


The Sixth-Year Defense Exam of 1985

by jdale



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Ambushes and Sneak Attacks, Auror George Hammond, Auror Jack O'Neill, Autopsies, Canonical Character Death, Coroner Janet Fraiser, Courtroom Drama, Curse-Breaker Daniel Jackson, Daily Prophet, Duelling, Gen, Goa'uld (Stargate), Gryffindor Aiden Ford, Gryffindor Bates, Gryffindor Cameron Mitchell, Gryffindor Dave Dixon, Gryffindor Dusty Mehra, Gryffindor Evan Lorne, Gryffindor John Sheppard, Gryffindor Laura Cadman, Gryffindor Marshall Sumner, Gryffindor Samantha "Sam" Carter, Hogwarts Board of Governors, Hogwarts Defense Curse, Hogwarts Express, Hogwarts House Prejudices, Hogwarts Inter-House Rivalries, Hufflepuff Acastus Kolya, Hufflepuff Carson Beckett, Hufflepuff Ronon Dex, Hufflepuff Teyla Emmagan, Interrogation, Jack O'Neill is Smarter Than He Looks, Legilimency, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Murder Mystery, Occlumency, Pensieves, Police Procedural, Potterverse Canon Compliant, Professor Steven Caldwell, Prosecutor Richard Woolsey, Ravenclaw Jennifer Hailey, Ravenclaw Peter Grodin, Ravenclaw Radek Zelenka, Ravenclaw Rodney McKay, Ravenclaw Sarah Gardner, Rodney being Rodney, Slytherin Elizabeth Weir, Slytherin Michael Kenmore, Slytherin Paul Davis, Slytherin Vala Mal Doran, This is Basically Law & Order: Hogwarts, Unforgivable Curses (Harry Potter), Veritaserum, Wizarding Culture (Harry Potter), Wizarding Politics (Harry Potter), characters listed in order of appearance, in-fighting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-05-19 11:50:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 34,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19356466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jdale/pseuds/jdale
Summary: Aurors are dispatched to Hogwarts in response to reports of a possible intruder in the castle. With the only surviving witnesses comatose, the rumor mill spirals out of control, turning the castle into a powder keg and creating a race against time to prevent more lives being lost.





	1. Chapter 1

“This is unbelievable. Now we’re going to be late for our Defense exam. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you to find our way there!”

Teyla sighed. “Rodney, you cannot possibly have expected me to have known that Peeves had flooded the Grand Staircase.”

“Well, no, but the little terror floods corridors often enough that I’d have thought you knew more than one way to get from point A to point B!” Rodney shot back.

“Look, can we focus on getting there instead of arguing about whose fault it is that we’re lost?” Ronon suggested.

“We are not _lost_ ,” Rodney corrected quickly. “I am sure that once we get back to the main corridor, I will have no trouble reorienting myself to get us there.”

Teyla and Ronon just looked at each other, both sharing the same thought. _Ravenclaws._

Rodney looked around for a moment. “Alright, we need to go…this way,” he declared, pointing to one end of the corridor and setting off at a brisk walk. When he realized that neither of his companions were following, he turned around and called, “Come on, let’s go! Chop-chop! We’re late enough as it is! Oh no, what if Professor Caldwell doesn’t let us take the exam because we’re late and we all get Ts?”

Teyla rolled her eyes. “I think the odds of that happening are extremely low, especially under the circumstances.”

Ronon nodded in agreement. “We’re probably not the only ones that got turned around.”

“Whatever, just…come on!” Rodney urged.

Ronon and Teyla shared a final glance between them before setting off to catch up with Rodney.

Rodney led them up two flights of stairs, across a corridor, then a left into another corridor, back down a flight of stairs, then a right and another left. When they rounded a final right into the Defense corridor, carnage greeted them.

Massive chunks of stone had been taken out of both walls, and bits of stone in varying sizes littered the floor, which also had a number of gouges in it. The ceiling, too, appeared to have been hit by spellfire. About halfway down the corridor, nearest the wall opposite the Defense classroom, Professor Caldwell lay flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling with unseeing eyes. At the far end of the corridor, just outside the classroom door, two students were similarly unresponsive: a girl lay on her side, curled into a fetal position, and a boy had fallen facedown behind her. Neither student was positioned such that any of the new arrivals could see their faces or House colors.

“Merlin’s beard…” Rodney muttered in disbelief.

Teyla unpinned her prefect badge from her uniform and placed the tip of her wand against its surface. “Emergency in the Defense corridor,” she spoke into it. “Professor Caldwell and two students have been attacked by forces unknown and require immediate medical assistance.”

A moment later, they heard Professor McGonagall’s _Sonorus_ -amplified voice echoing through the halls. _“All students, please proceed immediately to your common rooms and remain there until further notice. Prefects, please assist the lower years in finding their way.”_

McGonagall’s voice came again, this time softer and emanating from Teyla’s prefect badge. _“Miss Emmagan, please remain where you are. I will be there shortly to assist you in transporting Professor Caldwell and the injured students to the Hospital Wing.”_

* * *

Amelia Bones was seated in her office at the Ministry going over case reports when a glowing silver tabby cat flew in her window. “Amelia,” it spoke with Professor McGonagall’s voice, “Professor Caldwell and two students have been attacked by an unknown assailant. We’ve yet to determine whether the attacker is still in the castle.”

It paused before continuing, “Despite Albus’ usual insistence on handling such matters in-house, I’m requesting Auror assistance. Anyone powerful enough to take down a former Gringotts curse-breaker poses a major threat to the students, and Albus, powerful as he is, can only be in one place at a time.”

When it finished speaking, the Patronus dissolved into nothingness.

Troubled, Bones rose from her chair and stepped out of her office into the Auror bullpen. After scanning the cubicles to see who was available, she set her jaw and made her way over to one of them.

“Senior Auror Hammond,” she said without preamble, “I’ve just received word from Hogwarts that two students and a professor have been attacked. Professor McGonagall suspects that their assailant may still be in the castle.”

Hammond stood from his desk and nodded. “I’ll check it out.”

“Take Auror Apprentice O’Neill with you,” Bones instructed. “It may be useful to have someone along who still knows the lay of the land there.”

Hammond nodded again. “Will do.”

* * *

Hammond and O’Neill apparated into Hogsmeade, landing just outside the Three Broomsticks, and began the trek up to the castle. When they arrived, they were met at the doors by a Gryffindor student wearing a badge that identified him as the Head Boy.

“Welcome to Hogwarts. I’m Cam Mitchell. Professor McGonagall and the headmaster are waiting for you in the Hospital Wing. If you’ll follow me.”

As the three of them approached the Hospital Wing, they heard loud voices coming from within.

_“Minerva, I hardly think this was necessary—”_

_“Albus, whoever or whatever did this was a formidable enough opponent to kill a_ former Gringotts curse-breaker _! You cannot be everywhere at once! Who knows where this threat might appear next?”_

_“The students will be safe in their dormitories—”_

As Cam opened the door to the Hospital Wing to allow the two Aurors to enter, they saw Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape standing in Madam Pomfrey’s office arguing.

“As much as I’m loath to admit, she has a point,” Snape interrupted Dumbledore. “Clearly this mysterious attacker does not fear retribution if they made their attack in broad daylight.”

Hammond rapped on the doorjamb and cleared his throat loudly to get their attention. Once they stopped arguing, he said, “I’m Senior Auror George Hammond. I’ll be in charge of this investigation. This, as I’m sure you’ll recall, is Auror Apprentice Jack O’Neill, who will be assisting me. I expect all of you to show him the same courtesy you would me.”

“It’s good to see you again, Mister O’Neill,” McGonagall told him, “although I wish it were under better circumstances.”

“It’s nice to be back,” O’Neill agreed, “although I would appreciate being addressed by my proper title, _Professor_.”

Dumbledore regarded the two Aurors silently, his eyes lacking their usual twinkle. O’Neill glanced at Snape and gave his former Head of House a curt nod of greeting.

“What is the current status of the victims?” Hammond asked.

“Professor Caldwell is dead,” McGonagall reported. “Poppy is still working on the two students. We’ll know more when she finishes.”

“Any witnesses other than the vics?” O’Neill asked.

“None that saw the attack,” McGonagall replied.

O’Neill nodded. “Alright, who discovered them?”

“Three students: Rodney McKay, Ronon Dex, and Teyla Emmagan. It was Miss Emmagan who informed me of the situation via the Communication Charm on her prefect badge.”

As she said this, she pointed to where the three of them sat in the main part of the Hospital Wing watching Pomfrey attend to their friends.

Hammond looked at O’Neill.

“Take their statements, got it,” O’Neill said, anticipating Hammond’s request.

Once O’Neill departed, Hammond turned his attention back to the three professors. “What do we know about our two student victims?”

“John Sheppard and Elizabeth Weir, both sixth-years,” McGonagall told him. “Miss Weir is a Slytherin; Mister Sheppard is one of mine.”

“Both purebloods, both from Grey-aligned families,” Snape added.

At that moment, O’Neill reentered the room holding a small vial. “Professor Dumbledore, could I bother you to allow us the use of the Hogwarts Pensieve?”

Hammond turned to look at him. “You got a memory of how they found the scene?”

O’Neill nodded.

“I’ll be needing that Pensieve, Dumbledore,” Hammond informed him.

“I’m afraid I can’t allow that,” Dumbledore replied. “I have some very personal memories stored in that Pensieve—”

“Then find somewhere else to store them for the two minutes we need to use it!” O’Neill said in frustration.

Hammond raised one eyebrow at O’Neill reprovingly. “I would not have put it so bluntly, but yes. You know very well that that Pensieve is the property of Hogwarts, Dumbledore. It is not _your_ Pensieve.”

Dumbledore sighed in resignation. “Very well, but as headmaster, and therefore the person responsible for ensuring the continued safety of the students and staff, I must insist on being allowed to view the memory with you.”

“Of course,” Hammond replied. He motioned at the professors with his hand. “All three of you are welcome to join us.”

* * *

Pomfrey was waiting for them at the Hospital Wing entrance when they returned from Dumbledore’s office after viewing the memory.

“How are they, Poppy?” Dumbledore asked.

“Not good,” Pomfrey replied. “Miss Weir was hit with a Conjunctivitis Curse, and she also has several broken ribs, probably from a Bone-Breaking Curse given how clean the breaks were. The real problem is that she’s suffering from severe magical exhaustion.”

O’Neill’s brow furrowed. “How severe?”

“Severe enough that I’m not even going to attempt treatment of the injuries until her body at least partially recovers from the magical exhaustion,” Pomfrey told them. “It’ll probably be at least a few days before she’s awake.”

“What about Mister Sheppard?” McGonagall asked.

“Also suffering from magical exhaustion, even worse than Miss Weir,” Pomfrey reported. “No other injuries that I could detect.”

“Do we have a cause of death for Professor Caldwell?” O’Neill asked.

Pomfrey frowned. “Now, I’m no expert in postmortem diagnoses, but the initial indication would appear to be cardiac arrest.”

The six of them stepped back into Pomfrey’s office. “Thoughts, Jack?” Hammond asked after closing the door behind them.

“Based on the positioning of the bodies, I would say Sheppard and Weir entered the corridor from the end opposite the door to the classroom, and the assailant snuck up on them from behind before they realized what was happening,” Jack theorized. “Caldwell was in the classroom, saw them go down, and went out into the corridor to investigate, where he engaged the assailant in a duel and was eventually defeated.”

Hammond nodded. “Based solely on what we saw in the memory, I would tend to agree, but according to Madam Pomfrey, Sheppard and Weir both show signs of magical exhaustion.”

“Which would be inconsistent with the theory that they were caught unawares and went down without a fight,” O’Neill finished. “Is there a spell whose effects would mimic magical exhaustion?”

“I suppose there’s an outside chance a large number of Weakening Hexes in rapid succession could potentially do the trick,” Hammond replied, “but given that Sheppard and Weir are both taking NEWT-level Defense, I think it’s highly unlikely that would be the case in this instance.”

O’Neill nodded. Addressing Dumbledore, he asked, “Are we absolutely certain it was Peeves who was responsible for flooding the Grand Staircase?”

“Peeves is taking credit for the flooding,” Dumbledore informed them. “I see no reason for him to lie about having done so.”

“In any case, it certainly would have provided the perfect distraction for the attacker to escape,” Hammond remarked. “We’ll need to check the ward logs to see if anyone left the grounds around that time.”

“That can certainly be arranged,” McGonagall said quickly before Dumbledore could object.

Hammond’s eyebrows pinched in thought. “Check their wands,” he ordered O’Neill. “On the off-chance this was a magical creature attack, their last spells could give us some indication what we might be up against.”

McGonagall produced three wands from inside her robes and held them out to O’Neill handle first. “Miss Weir, Mister Sheppard, and Professor Caldwell,” she told him, pointing to each wand as she named its owner.

O’Neill set the wands on Pomfrey’s desk before drawing his own. “We’ll start with Weir’s,” he told Hammond. Touching his wand tip to hers, he spoke in a clear voice, “ _Prior incantato_!”

Shadows of the most recent spells Elizabeth’s wand had cast began to emerge from its tip. “Okay, most recent cast was a shield,” O’Neill announced, “before that, a Banishing Charm, and the one before that, a Knockback Jinx.”

“If the Banishing Charm missed, it could account for some of the damage to the corridor walls,” Hammond mused.

“Moving on to Sheppard’s wand,” O’Neill advised. He repeated the same process, but this time, his eyes grew large as the results began to come back. “Well, this is interesting. This is _very_ interesting. The most recent spell cast from Sheppard’s wand was a Heart-Stopping Curse.”

Hammond looked at him in shock. “And the two before that?”

“A Blood-Boiling Curse…and a Coma-Inducing Spell,” O’Neill reported.

“You must be mistaken,” Dumbledore said, reaching for his own wand.

“Now, listen here, Dumbledore, I’ll not have you questioning the abilities of my Aurors,” Hammond told him sternly, his eyes warning of the consequences should Dumbledore attempt to interfere. Reluctantly, the headmaster’s hand withdrew from his robes empty. Turning back to O’Neill, Hammond instructed, “Check Caldwell’s wand.”

“ _Prior incantato_!” O’Neill intoned. The whole room was now on edge as they awaited the results. “His final spell was a shield…before that, a Bone-Breaking Curse…and before _that_ , a Conjunctivitis Curse!”

McGonagall gasped.

Hammond’s jaw went slack. His eyes narrowed, and he leaned in slightly as if to take a closer look at the wands. Then his gaze flitted over to meet O’Neill’s. “Your conclusion, Auror Apprentice?”

O’Neill looked down at the three wands lying on the desk, then back up at Hammond. When he spoke, his voice was a mixture of confusion, disbelief, and uncertainty. “They were fighting each other?”


	2. Chapter 2

McGonagall was the first to speak. “Is it possible a duel broke out between Mister Sheppard and Miss Weir, and Professor Caldwell was caught in the crossfire when he attempted to intervene?”

“That doesn’t match the body positioning,” Hammond replied. “If Caldwell got caught in the crossfire of a duel between Sheppard and Weir, firstly, Sheppard and Weir shouldn’t have been that close together, and secondly, Caldwell should’ve been between them, not off to the side halfway down the corridor.”

“The spells wouldn’t make sense, either,” O’Neill added. “Caldwell cast the two spells that took down Weir, and _then_ he cast a shield.”

“Presumably against Sheppard’s chain that ended with the Heart-Stopper,” Snape put in.

O’Neill nodded. “Exactly. If Sheppard and Weir were dueling each other, Caldwell takes down Weir, why would Sheppard turn his wand on Caldwell?”

“We don’t know that where the bodies ended up is where they were during the duel,” Snape pointed out. “Pomfrey said Sheppard was suffering from magical exhaustion only. Presumably that means he was the last one standing. Caldwell’s body position suggests he was facing the south end of the corridor when he was hit. Suppose Sheppard was originally at the south end. He and Caldwell both cast at Weir. Caldwell hits her, then turns around to shield himself but can’t get a shield up in time. Sheppard then tries to go into the classroom but passes out from magical exhaustion before he gets there.”

Dumbledore shook his head. “The John Sheppard I’ve had the opportunity to interact with would not have used spells of such lethality.”

“Well, if Weir escalated first, he may have felt he had no choice but to respond in kind,” Hammond noted. “Fight fire with fire. That’s why Crouch authorized the use of the Unforgivables by Aurors during the war.”

Snape fixed Hammond with a stern glare. “And why must Weir have been the first one to escalate? Sheppard’s was the only wand found to have cast lethal spells.”

Hammond was unfazed by Snape’s hostility. “All I was saying was that _if_ Weir began dueling to kill, Sheppard might have done so as well even if he otherwise would not have. I never said I believe that’s what actually happened.”

“Sir?” O’Neill spoke up.

Hammond turned to look at him. “Yes, Jack?”

“Now that it’s looking like there was no fourth party involved, I have a few more questions I’d like to ask of our witnesses,” O’Neill requested.

Hammond nodded. “I have a few questions of my own for them,” he agreed. Turning to the professors, he added, “You’re free to be present, but Auror O’Neill and I will be the ones doing the talking, understood?”

Dumbledore reluctantly nodded in agreement, and the five of them exited Pomfrey’s office and approached the two occupied beds.

“Mister McKay, Miss Emmagan, Mister Dex, I’m Senior Auror Hammond.”

Rodney looked up at them expectantly. “Have you figured out whether whoever attacked them is still in the castle?”

Hammond took a deep breath before answering, “It’s beginning to look like Mister Sheppard and Miss Weir were dueling, and Professor Caldwell was hit by a stray curse when he attempted to intervene and break up the fight.”

Rodney squinted and pursed his lips in confusion. “What? That—that doesn’t make any _sense_! I—I mean, I could see Professor Caldwell having them duel each other as part of the Defense exam, but why would they be throwing lethal curses at each other?”

“Presumably that is why Professor Caldwell was attempting to stop the duel,” Snape remarked dryly.

Rodney hit himself on the side of the head with his palm. “Of course you wouldn’t know. Why would I expect any of you would know?” he muttered to himself. Aloud, he explained, “They were dating.”

O’Neill glanced over at Hammond, then back at Rodney. “As in ‘snogging in broom closets’ dating?” he asked, his tone equal parts surprise and skepticism.

“No, as in ‘using the strength of residual magical signatures to determine how long ago an object was enchanted’ dating,” Rodney snarked.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’” O’Neill remarked.

“As far as the three of you are aware, were they having any…problems in their relationship?” Hammond asked.

Teyla shook her head. “No. A number of John’s housemates have been rather vocal about their disapproval of his choice of partner, but John and Elizabeth never let what other people thought about their relationship bother them.”

“Well, even if they were having a minor disagreement, I hardly think it’s likely that something like that would escalate to the point of them _literally trying to kill each other_!” Rodney interjected.

“McKay’s right,” O’Neill agreed. “That’s an awfully big jump.”

“Unless she’s been playing us,” Ronon countered.

McKay’s head snapped around to look at him. “What?”

“Slytherins are supposed to be masters of deception,” Ronon explained. “What if the Elizabeth we know is just another mask?”

McKay shook his head vehemently. “No. No, I refuse to believe that. This is _Elizabeth_ we’re talking about here.”

Ronon fixed him with a stern glare. “I’m just saying.”

Hammond turned to O’Neill. “Contact St. Mungo’s. Have them perform a full autopsy on Professor Caldwell. I want to be absolutely certain on the cause of death before we go any further.”

O’Neill nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Hammond now addressed Dumbledore. “Since it’s looking like this investigation could take a while, is there somewhere in the castle we can set up a base of operations?”

Dumbledore smiled genially. “Now that this looks like a simple case of a disagreement between students leading to spells being cast, I hardly think Auror involvement is still needed—”

“A professor is dead, Dumbledore, possibly killed by a student,” Hammond reminded him. “As of right now, this is an active murder investigation. I am not afraid to have you charged with obstruction.”

“I am the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot—”

“Which means nothing outside the Wizengamot chambers,” Hammond interrupted.

“Perhaps since Professor Caldwell is no longer with us, they can use his office?” McGonagall suggested.

“That would be satisfactory,” Hammond agreed.

Dumbledore sighed. “Very well.”

Seeing that the gathering was about to break up, McGonagall said, “Miss Emmagan, I compliment you on maintaining your composure in the face of such an unusual situation. Ten points to Hufflepuff.”

Teyla bowed her head slightly. “Thank you, Professor.”

Dumbledore turned and strode toward the Hospital Wing entrance, McGonagall and Snape trailing behind him. They paused in the doorway for a moment, appearing to have a short conversation with someone. When they finally departed, Cam reappeared.

“If you’ll follow me, Aurors,” he requested.

Hammond and O’Neill made their way over, and Cam began leading them through the halls.

_“All students,”_ McGonagall’s voice announced, _“it is now safe for you to leave your common rooms. Sixth-years taking Defense, your exam has been cancelled; you have a free period. All other exams scheduled for this timeslot will begin in ten minutes.”_

“Still quidditch captain, I see,” O’Neill remarked idly, noting the other badge on Cam’s uniform.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Cam asked with a slight note of defensiveness.

“No reason,” O’Neill replied. Deciding to take the opportunity to pick Cam’s brain, he asked, “Sheppard still play beater?”

“Yeah,” Cam confirmed. “He keeps goons like Wallace off my back so I can worry about finding a way to score.”

O’Neill raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you still bitter about that?”

“I spent eight months in St. Mungo’s relearning how to walk,” Cam shot back defensively, “and Hooch didn’t even call it a foul!”

“He took a bludger off his tail-twigs!” O’Neill reminded him. “He wasn’t exactly in control of his broom!”

“He didn’t exactly make much of an attempt to avoid the collision, either! Anyhow, to get back to your original question, Wallace isn’t exactly going to find his way onto my Christmas card list anytime soon.”

“I see,” O’Neill replied evenly. “What’s your opinion of Sheppard as a person?”

“Doesn’t shy away from a challenge,” Cam told him. “Decent enough student, from what I hear.”

O’Neill nodded thoughtfully. “That all?”

“Yeah, I don’t see much of him outside of quidditch,” Cam responded. “I think Aiden Ford—he’s our other beater—is the only other Gryff in Sheppard’s friend group.”

“Who else is in his friend group?” O’Neill asked.

“His girl—and I still don’t know what he sees in her—the three that were in the Hospital Wing watching over them, Carson Beckett—wait, there is one other Gryff. Laura Cadman. She’s dating Beckett. I think that about covers it—McKay occasionally lets his kid sister tag along with them, but I’m not sure that really counts. Oh, here we are,” Cam announced, motioning to the door on their left.

“Thank you, Mister Mitchell,” Hammond said, and with that, he and O’Neill stepped into Caldwell’s office.

While Hammond set about transfiguring some of the excess chairs into beds for the two of them to use, O’Neill made his way over to the fireplace and threw in a handful of Floo powder. “Coroner’s Office, St. Mungo’s!”

“Healer Fraiser? Auror Apprentice O’Neill. We’ve had a death at Hogwarts…Yes, the Defense professor again…It looks like he was hit by spellfire while trying to break up a duel between two students. We’ll need an autopsy to determine the cause of death…I understand…Understood. I’ll notify the headmaster to expect you.”

Pulling his head out of the flames, he informed Hammond, “St. Mungo’s is a little busy right now. They’ll send someone over at 0900 tomorrow.”

“Have Pomfrey put a Stasis Charm over the body until then,” Hammond ordered.

* * *

Ministry Prosecutor Richard Woolsey was about to leave for the day when his office fireplace flared green.

“Senior Auror Hammond,” he addressed the face that appeared in the flames. “This is a surprise.”

“The situation at Hogwarts has become a murder investigation,” Hammond reported. “Professor Caldwell’s injuries proved fatal.”

“Has it been determined whether his attacker is still in the castle?” Woolsey asked.

Hammond sighed. “Professor McGonagall’s initial assessment that Caldwell and the two injured students were attacked by a fourth individual appears to be incorrect. It now appears the two students were dueling each other, and Professor Caldwell was hit while attempting to separate them.”

“Are the two students involved still alive?”

“Yes, but both are suffering from magical exhaustion,” Hammond replied. “Pomfrey expects they’ll both be unconscious for at least another few days.”

“I’ll see what I can do about getting arrest warrants, but if the Wizengamot’s already adjourned, we may not be able to get them until morning,” Woolsey told him.

“Now, wait a minute, Richard, I’d like to be able to interview them _before_ we place them under arrest,” Hammond objected.

“Did the spells recovered from the suspects’ wands match Professor Caldwell’s injuries?” Woolsey asked.

“I’m not prepared to call them suspects at this time,” Hammond responded. “We still have very little idea what happened here.”

Woolsey struggled to keep from rolling his eyes. “Fine, did the spells recovered from the _students’_ wands match Professor Caldwell’s injuries?”

“They appear to, but—” Hammond began.

“Then I don’t see what the problem is,” Woolsey interrupted. “You have a literal smoking wand, George. What else do you need?”

Hammond huffed in frustration. “Can we at least wait until we have an official autopsy report confirming the cause of death?”

Woolsey sighed. “Very well. Let me know when you have the autopsy results.”

“Will do,” Hammond assured him.

* * *

As dinner was ending later that night, Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement. “May I have everyone’s attention, please. As I’m sure many of you will have heard by now, two of our sixth-year students, John Sheppard of Gryffindor and Elizabeth Weir of Slytherin, are currently in the Hospital Wing recovering from magical exhaustion. It appears that they were dueling each other, and things got a bit out of hand.”

Dumbledore took a deep breath before continuing, “It is my sad duty to inform you that our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Steven Caldwell, was hit by a Heart-Stopping Curse while attempting to separate Mister Sheppard and Miss Weir. I would now like to call for a moment of silence in memory of the late Professor Caldwell.”

Dumbledore then drew his wand, lit the tip, and raised it skyward, the rest of the staff and students following suit. Some of the younger students, who had yet to learn nonverbal spellcasting, could be heard quietly muttering the necessary incantation, but other than that, the Great Hall was silent.

After about a minute, they lowered their wands and stowed them away. “The Ministry has dispatched two Aurors to investigate the circumstances of Professor Caldwell’s death,” Dumbledore told them. “I expect that all of you will treat them with the same respect you would treat any of your professors. That is all.”

With that, Dumbledore stepped back from the lectern and exited the Great Hall. Almost immediately, Snape stood from his chair and stalked after Dumbledore, fists clenched at his sides. Meanwhile, at the Ravenclaw table, Rodney turned around on the bench and tapped Ronon on the shoulder.

“Can you believe him?” Rodney asked, jabbing his thumb at Dumbledore’s thronelike chair at the High Table.

Ronon looked at him questioningly. “The students have a right to know what happened.”

“Well—well, yes, but the way he said it, people are gonna assume it was Elizabeth who fired the Heart-Stopping Curse!” Rodney protested. “Dumbledore’s not an idiot. He has to know that’s the assumption people are gonna make! What’s he playing at?”

“Would ye rather he’d have said it was John who killed Professor Caldwell?” Carson put in.

“I would _rather_ he’d have not said anything at all other than the fact Caldwell’s dead,” Rodney replied. “We don’t even know that that’s what actually happened. His line about John and Elizabeth were dueling, and Caldwell got killed trying to break it up? That’s just _speculation_! And it’s not even speculation that makes _sense_! Why would John and Elizabeth be trying to kill each other?”

“No good reason that I can think of,” Carson agreed.

Rodney immediately turned to Ronon. “I know what you’re about to say. _Don’t_.”

Carson looked between Rodney and Ronon in confusion. “What is he goin’ta say?”

“Ronon seems to think we may have made a mistake in trusting Elizabeth,” Teyla explained.

Carson shot Ronon a look of disbelief. “You’re not bloody serious, are ye? Just to be clear, we are talking about the same Elizabeth here? Wants to work in International Magical Cooperation as an ambassador? Ye don’ get to be an ambassador by solving disputes with Heart-Stopping Curses.”

Ronon held up his hands defensively. “All I’m saying is maybe we don’t know her as well as we thought.”

Before Rodney could respond, Aiden Ford came up the aisle between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables and dropped to a crouch so that he was at eye level with the rest of the group. “I can’t believe we missed this for so long,” he commented, his expression subdued.

“Oh, not you, too,” Rodney groaned, pressing a hand to the side of his face.

“Hey, I’m a little shell-shocked here, too, McKay,” Aiden assured him. “She…she had us practically eating out of the palm of her hand, and…now it turns out she was just trying to get close to John so she could kill him for not going to the Snake Pit like the rest of his family.”

Carson shot to his feet. “Now, wait a bloody minute! Even if we accept for one insane moment the idea that Elizabeth’s been anything but sincere in her dealings with us, how d’you go from that to her tryin’ta kill John because o’ where he was Sorted?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she resents the fact that the rest of John’s quidditch teammates are always ragging on him to break up with her,” Aiden speculated.

“That makes even _less_ sense!” Rodney protested. “If that were the case, wouldn’t she go after his quidditch teammates, not him?”

“Could be some other reason,” Ronon put in. “Maybe she was trying to turn him Dark and he wouldn’t go for it.”

“What? That’s ridiculous!” Rodney shouted. “She’s Grey!”

“Her _family_ is Grey,” Ford corrected. “That doesn’t mean _she_ is. She _is_ a Slytherin, after all, and she was Sorted during the war, so she has to be at _least_ a Death Eater _sympathizer_ —”

“Alright, that’s it, Ford!” Carson thundered. “Fifteen points from Gryffindor for slanderin’ a fellow student!”

A brief look of shock crossed Aiden’s face, then he slowly drew himself up to his full height and fixed Carson with a steely-eyed gaze. “You wouldn’t.”

“I believe I jus’ did!” Carson shot back, anger broadening his accent. Without taking his eyes off Aiden, Carson lifted his hand to his lapel and pointed to the prefect badge that sat there. “Jus’ because I don’ use it very often, doesn’ mean this carries any less authority.”

There was a tense moment as the two stared each other down. Even Rodney was unwilling to break the silence.

“This isn’t over,” Aiden said eventually, turning abruptly and heading for the exit. Ronon stood from his seat wordlessly and followed Aiden out.

“I’ll be reportin’ this incident tae Professor McGonagall, Ford!” Carson called after them. “Don’ be surprised if she gives ye detention for it!”

After Ford and Ronon departed, Carson slowly lowered himself back onto the bench.

“Carson, I mean no disrespect in saying this,” Teyla began, “but I believe fifteen points may have been rather harsh.”

“You’re entitled to your own opinion, Teyla,” Carson replied, “and if a professor decides to reduce the deduction, I won’ complain, but I feel like ye have to come down hard on drivel like that. This is how rumors get started.”

“Yeah, well, Fumblesnore didn’t exactly do much to help matters any,” Rodney sulked.

“No, he didnae,” Carson agreed.

Rodney stood. “I’m going to head back to Ravenclaw Tower. Try to keep Ronon from poisoning the rest of the Puffs against Elizabeth?”

Carson nodded. “Aye.”


	3. Chapter 3

The fireplace in Dumbledore’s office flared green, signaling the arrival of Healer Fraiser from St. Mungo’s. After stepping through, she withdrew her wand and vanished the soot from the shoulders of her lime-green healer’s robes.

Turning to Dumbledore, she asked, “I presume the Hospital Wing has not moved since I was last here?”

Dumbledore chuckled. “That would be quite the undertaking, my dear.”

As the assembled group began making their way down to the Hospital Wing, Fraiser asked, “Anything out of the ordinary I should know about the situation?”

“A Stasis Charm was placed on the body at 3:45 yesterday afternoon,” Pomfrey informed her.

Fraiser nodded. “Anything else?”

“A request, if I may,” Pomfrey said. “Over the course of the past year, I’ve been working closely with a student who wishes to become a healer. Would it be alright if he were to observe the autopsy to get a better feel for what the job is like?”

Fraiser looked at Hammond. “Any reason I shouldn’t allow it?”

Hammond shrugged. “As long as he observes only, I don’t see the harm in it.”

Fraiser looked back to Pomfrey, who nodded silently in agreement.

They walked in silence for about half a minute before reaching the Hospital Wing. When they arrived, they found Caldwell’s body laid out on one of the beds near the entrance. Carson was seated on a chair nearby. When he saw them enter, he stood.

“I’ve brought Professor Caldwell’s body out of the storage area, as ye requested, Madam Pomfrey,” he told her. “The Stasis Charm over it is still intact.”

“Thank you, Mister Beckett,” Pomfrey replied.

Fraiser and Pomfrey went to stand on one side of the bed on which Caldwell’s body lay, while Dumbledore, Hammond, and O’Neill joined Carson standing on the other side. Fraiser removed a Self-Inking Quill and a piece of parchment from her bag and conjured a small table to place them on. She then tapped the quill with her wand, and it stood poised to begin writing.

“Official autopsy of Professor Steven Caldwell,” Fraiser announced. The quill began writing. “I am breaking the Stasis Charm on Professor Caldwell’s body at…” she paused briefly to glance at the clock, “9:04 A.M.”

After she said this, Fraiser began waving her wand over the body and muttering incantations in a low tone, occasionally pausing to tap the quill with her wand, at which point it would begin to write down the results of the diagnostic spell she had just cast. After about ten minutes, she gave the quill a final tap, and it set itself back down on the table. She then picked up the quill and signed the bottom of the parchment.

“What are your findings, Healer Fraiser?” Hammond asked.

“Time of death was approximately 3 P.M. yesterday, give or take ten minutes,” Fraiser reported. “I am detecting an unidentified substance in the deceased’s bloodstream.”

O’Neill glanced briefly at Hammond, then back at Fraiser. “Enough to be fatal?”

Fraiser shook her head. “It’s difficult to say for certain given that I can’t identify what the substance is or what sort of effects it might have, but I would say the levels I’m detecting are unlikely to have been fatal.”

Hammond nodded. “Continue.”

“Scans indicate that the deceased entered cardiac arrest approximately 30 seconds prior to death,” Fraiser informed them. “All evidence indicates that the cardiac arrest was the cause of death.”

“Can you speculate as to the cause of the cardiac arrest?” Hammond queried.

“The cardiac arrest appeared to occur spontaneously for no biologically identifiable reason, which suggests it was induced by a spell,” Fraiser answered. “However, the deceased had a tumor near the base of the brainstem. It is possible but unlikely that this tumor interfered with the brainstem’s ability to regulate cardiopulmonary activity, thereby resulting in cardiac arrest.”

“What type of spell would induce a spontaneous cardiac arrest?”

“By far, the most likely candidate is a Heart-Stopping Curse,” Fraiser replied.

Hammond met her eyes solemnly. “Is it your official professional opinion, Healer Fraiser, that the deceased died as a result of being struck by a Heart-Stopping Curse?”

“It is,” Fraiser confirmed.

“Do you have any other findings to report?” Hammond asked.

Fraiser shook her head. “No.”

Fraiser pointed her wand at the parchment on which her results had been recorded and incanted, “ _Geminio_ ,” causing a second copy of the parchment to appear on top of the first.

“My official autopsy report,” she stated, handing Hammond the duplicate copy.

“Thank you, Healer Fraiser,” he said, slipping the parchment into his robes. He then turned to Dumbledore. “Auror O’Neill and I will be returning to the Ministry to discuss this development with Prosecutor Woolsey. I expect we will return to Hogwarts shortly after lunch.”

Dumbledore nodded. “Will you be apparating into Hogsmeade and walking up to the castle as you did yesterday?”

“It would be preferable if we could return via your office Floo,” Hammond requested.

Dumbledore sighed and gave a reluctant nod.

Meanwhile, Fraiser turned to Pomfrey. “Poppy, I could use your assistance in transporting Professor Caldwell’s body back to St. Mungo’s. You shouldn’t need to be away for more than about fifteen minutes.”

“Very well,” Pomfrey agreed. Turning to Carson, she added, “Mister Beckett, can I trust you to keep an eye on things here until I return?”

“Aye,” Carson assured her.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Rodney and Ronon sat keeping a silent vigil at John’s bedside. A few feet away, Carson and Teyla kept watch over Elizabeth.

“Madam Pomfrey’s hoping that by morning, Elizabeth will have recovered from the magical exhaustion enough that we can treat her other injuries,” Carson told Teyla in a hushed voice.

Just then, the students’ attention was drawn by the sound of the Hospital Wing doors opening. Hammond and O’Neill stepped inside and immediately went into Pomfrey’s office. Pomfrey and the two Aurors had a short conversation in hushed tones, and then the three of them exited Pomfrey’s office and made their way over to the small gathering around the two occupied beds.

“I’m going to have to ask the four of you to leave now,” Hammond told them, holding up a piece of parchment. “Mister Sheppard and Miss Weir are being transferred to the secure ward at St. Mungo’s.”

Immediately Rodney was on his feet. “Are you completely out of your minds? You haven’t even _talked_ to them!”

“I don’t particularly like this, either, Mister McKay, but the decision was out of my hands,” Hammond replied calmly. “Besides, the last spell cast from Mister Sheppard’s wand matches the spell that killed Professor Caldwell. You have to admit that on its surface, that looks like pretty damning evidence.”

“It’s still only circumstantial!” Carson protested, fingernails digging into his palms. “Ye _hae_ to at least gi’ them a chance t’ explain themselves!”

“I’ll see to it personally that they get that chance when they wake up,” Hammond assured him.

“Wi’ their arms an’ legs _shackled tae their beds_!” Carson shot back. “Do ye ‘ave any idea how traumatizin’ tha’ cou’ be fer ‘em?”

“Look, I assure you, there has _got_ to be a reasonable explanation for this, and yours is not it!” Rodney added. “Look, if your theory that John and Elizabeth were dueling each other and Professor Caldwell was trying to break it up is true, shouldn’t Caldwell have been using stunners, not a Bone-Breaker and a Conjunctivitis Curse?”

Hammond opened his mouth to interrupt, but Rodney plowed on before he could do so. “You _assume_ because they were a Gryffindor and a Slytherin that they were dueling each other. What if they were both dueling _together_ against Professor Caldwell?”

“And that would excuse them escalating to lethal force… _how_?” O’Neill asked.

“Maybe Caldwell tried to kill them first!” Rodney suggested. “It wouldn’t be the first time a Defense professor went nuts and tried to kill the students!”

Hammond raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Now why would a former Gringotts curse-breaker, and may I remind you that Gringotts screens curse-breaker candidates for personality as well as aptitude, try to kill two students under his charge, even if he was, as you propose, engaged in a duel with them?”

“The unidentified substance in his bloodstream,” Carson proposed. After taking a deep breath to try to calm himself, he continued, “Healer Fraiser said she didnae know what effects it might have, only that it wasnae what killed him. What if it was causing him to hallucinate? See things that werenae really there,” he added quickly upon seeing Hammond’s look of confusion. “What if, because he had this toxin in his bloodstream, he looked at John and Elizabeth and instead of seeing them, he saw…I don’ know, Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange?”

“There’s still no evidence that Professor Caldwell was using lethal force,” Hammond pointed out.

“Well, no, I don’t imagine there would be, seeing as _your_ Reverse Spell Charm can only reliably go back three spells, which would be the two that hit Elizabeth, neither of which were lethal, and then presumably he attempted a shield,” Rodney commented.

“ _Our_ Reverse Spell Charm?” O’Neill asked.

“The Reverse Spell Charm you guys use attempts to determine the most recent spells cast by a wand by analyzing imprints left behind on the wand’s core,” Rodney explained. “Now, a lot of people don’t know this, but casting a spell also leaves an imprint on the wand wood, and because the wood is in direct contact with the caster, and the core is not, the imprints left behind on the wood are actually stronger than the ones left behind on the core, about two and a half to a little over three times stronger depending on the hardness of the wood.”

“Cut to the chase, Rodney,” Carson suggested, seeing the Aurors’ looks of impatience.

“I’ve been working with Professor Vector on a version of the Reverse Spell Charm that analyzes the imprints left on the wood, which we believe should be able to accurately recover the eight to ten most recent spells cast by a wand, depending on the wood it’s made of,” Rodney told them.

“And you want me to let you try to go further back into the spell history of Professor Caldwell’s wand to try to prove that Mister Sheppard wasn’t the only one using lethal force,” Hammond concluded.

“Sir, I got Os on my Arithmancy and Charms NEWTs,” O’Neill said. “If he shows me the theory of this new spell of his, I can be the one to cast it.”

Hammond sighed. “Why do I get the feeling I’m going to regret this?”

Rodney smiled. “O ye of little faith,” he said, walking past Hammond to the Hospital Wing entrance. Raising his wand, he cried, “ _Accio_ my Arithmancy notes!”

Within a few seconds, a sheaf of parchment flew down from Ravenclaw Tower into Rodney’s off hand. He then turned, walked back over, and handed the notes to O’Neill, who thumbed through them for about a minute before turning to Hammond and nodding. “I’m no expert in wandlore, but the portions of these calculations I can make sense of look accurate to me.”

“Can you make sense of it enough to cast it?” Hammond asked.

O’Neill nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Alright, I’ll go get the wands,” Hammond told him, turning to depart.

While Hammond did that, O’Neill crossed back to Pomfrey’s office and retrieved a quill, inkwell, and several sheets of parchment. He then returned to where the group of students was gathered and conjured a table, on which he set the writing supplies. When Hammond returned with the wands, he set them on the table O’Neill had conjured.

“How many spells is this supposed to be able to recover?” Hammond asked.

“It depends on the hardness of the wood,” Rodney answered. “Softer woods, the imprints tend to muddle together a little more, so you can only recover about eight or so spells before the accuracy starts to suffer. Harder wands hold the imprints of previous spells a little better, so you can potentially recover as many as ten before you start to lose accuracy. Now, hardness isn’t the only factor. There’s also—”

O’Neill gave Rodney a _look_. “—but the particulars are all in my notes,” Rodney finished.

“Let’s take this opportunity to do a little field test of this spell,” Hammond suggested. “If it really can go back further without losing accuracy, that could be useful to us in future investigations, not just this one. Jack, I want you to carry this out to fifteen spells. Hopefully, either Mister Sheppard or Miss Weir will be willing to provide us with a memory of the incident, and we’ll be able to compare the actual casts as seen in the memory with the results we get from this spell to see just how far back it can actually go.”

“Yes, sir,” O’Neill replied. Picking up the quill in one hand and his wand in the other, he touched the tip of his wand to that of Caldwell’s and incanted, “ _Prior incantato lignorum_!”

O’Neill began writing down the results on one of the sheets of parchment as the shadows began to appear. “I’ve got a shield…Bone-Breaking Curse…Conjunctivitis Curse…”

“Good, that’s consistent with what we got using the normal method,” Hammond remarked. “What was the one before that?”

O’Neill’s eyebrows shot up. “Entrail-Expelling Curse,” he reported. “ _That’s_ not something you would normally use to subdue an unruly student.”

With a self-satisfied smirk, Rodney turned to Hammond and asked, “Okay, so now that we’ve established that Professor Caldwell _was_ , in fact, trying to kill them, will you please at least wait until you’ve had a chance to _talk to them_ before you come barging in here and have them charged with murder?”

“Given that there is now evidence of lethal curses having been cast on both sides, I will advise Prosecutor Woolsey of my belief that until we can establish a clearer picture of what happened up in that corridor, any decision to file charges would be premature,” Hammond responded in a measured tone. “However, it will ultimately be his decision, not mine, whether to withdraw the charges.”

“I’ve finished the analysis of Professor Caldwell’s wand,” O’Neill informed Hammond.

“Good,” Hammond replied. “Run the other two wands, then join me in Caldwell’s office.”

O’Neill nodded. “Yes, sir.”

As Hammond stepped out of the Hospital Wing, he encountered Dumbledore, who looked like he was about to enter.

“Ah, just the person I was hoping to speak with,” Dumbledore said. “George, I—”

“That’s Senior Auror Hammond to you.”

Dumbledore ignored him. “I must urge you against so hastily condemning Mister Sheppard for his role in Professor Caldwell’s death.”

“As a matter of fact, I was just on my way to inform Prosecutor Woolsey that new information has come to light that would make it prudent to wait on filing charges until we can hopefully convince either Mister Sheppard or Miss Weir to provide us with a memory of the incident,” Hammond told him.

“And what is this new information, if I may ask?”

“It appears Professor Caldwell may have been an active participant in the duel, rather than having been attempting to stop it as we previously believed,” Hammond explained.

The ever-present twinkle in Dumbledore’s eyes was now in full force. “Yes, that would make much more sense. I thank you for being willing to see reason on this matter, George.”

Before Hammond could object to Dumbledore once again refusing to address him properly, the older wizard had stepped past him and into the Hospital Wing. With a huff of annoyance, Hammond continued on his way, wondering how in Merlin’s name it made _more_ sense for Caldwell to have been a party to the duel.


	4. Chapter 4

Carson’s first thought when he returned from assisting Madam Pomfrey in administering Elizabeth’s potions the next morning was that the common room was unusually devoid of younger years.

“Look, there’s a reason Slytherin’s emblem is a snake,” Ronon was saying. “Snakes are always growing new layers of skin, and when they no longer need the old layers, they shed them. Same with Slytherins. They have a mask for every situation, and they can switch masks at a moment’s notice without anyone else noticing.”

“For the last time, Dex, I am not disputing that Weir is bad news.”

Carson cringed internally on hearing the voice of Acastus Kolya. The older boy had caused them nothing but trouble for as long as he could remember. Hoping to defuse the argument, he interrupted, “Now, wait a minute! Let’s not go jumping to conclusions here. There must be a reasonable explanation for all this. We just don’ know what it is yet.”

“The explanation,” Kolya responded, “is that Sheppard is nowhere near as squeaky-clean as your buddy here seems to think he is.”

“John Sheppard is as upstanding a wizard as they come,” Ronon shot back. “His problem is he tends to assume everyone else is, too.”

Kolya scoffed. “Come now, you know that’s not true. Sure, he may lean a little toward the Light, but when you get right down to it, he is Grey through and through.”

“If you’d let me finish,” Ronon said with a glare, “what got him into trouble here is that he saw a pretty face and a skirt, and he was too naïve to realize the personality he was seeing wasn’t the real Weir, just another mask.”

“For Merlin’s sake, he’s a Gryffindor!” Kolya shouted. “He has to know Slytherins are Dark! The only reason he would have for getting involved with one is if he himself were Dark!”

Ronon stood from his armchair and slowly began walking toward Kolya, wand appearing in his hand out of nowhere. “You take that back,” he growled.

Carson glanced around the common room to see whether there were any other prefects present. To his relief, he saw Teyla, sitting on a sofa against the far wall, set her book down on the empty seat beside her, ready to intervene if necessary.

Kolya also stood. “Why should I do that? It’s true. Everyone knows the Sheppards bankrolled You-Know-Who during—”

“You know damn well John Sheppard is not his father,” Ronon interrupted.

“That’s what he wants you to think,” Kolya replied.

Everything happened at once. Teyla jumped up from the sofa and began moving to stand between them, throwing her arms out to either side as she did so. In the same instant, Kolya’s wand was in his hand, his wrist turning in a downward half-circle.

“ _Conjunctivo_!” Ronon shouted. As he did so, his wand tip traced out two counterclockwise circles in the air, the first being the larger of the two.

Both wizards’ spells impacted harmlessly against the rippling blue dome of Teyla’s shield. Breathing heavily, she turned her head to the side to look Ronon straight in the eye, anger clear on her features. After a long moment, Ronon lowered his wand. Teyla then swiveled her head to face Kolya, who quickly lowered his own wand. With a heavy sigh, Teyla lowered her arms and allowed her shield to disperse. “The both of you will come with me,” she instructed.

Kolya and Ronon followed Teyla to Professor Sprout’s office. When they arrived, Teyla rapped on the door.

_“Come in,”_ Sprout called.

Teyla opened the door and motioned for the other two to enter before following them in and pulling the door shut behind her. “These two were involved in an altercation in the common room,” she informed Sprout.

Sprout looked at them sternly. “What sort of altercation?”

“Mister Dex took offense at a statement made by Mister Kolya and gave him the opportunity to recant. Mister Kolya refused and cast a Reductor Curse at Mister Dex, to which Mister Dex responded with a Conjunctivitis Curse,” Teyla explained. “I was able to cast a shield to absorb both spells.”

Sprout considered this for a long moment. “What was the statement to which Mister Dex took offense?”

“Mister Kolya cited Mister Sheppard’s relationship with Miss Weir as evidence that Mister Sheppard is a Dark wizard,” Teyla replied.

Sprout nodded. “Thank you, Miss Emmagan. You may go.”

Once Teyla departed, Sprout stood to address the remaining two from closer to eye level. “I am deeply disappointed in both of you for engaging in such behavior in the middle of the common room.”

“He insulted Sheppard’s honor,” Ronon said. “I couldn’t just let that pass without response.”

Sprout sighed, running a hand through her hair. “While I understand the importance of such matters among the old families, you must resolve them in an appropriate manner. I cannot have spells being cast in the common room where innocent bystanders could get hit by stray spellfire. That will be thirty points from each of you, and you will both have detention with Mister Filch each of the next three nights. Dismissed.”

* * *

As Laura Cadman descended the staircase from her dormitory into the Gryffindor common room, the first thing she noticed was that six armchairs had been moved from their usual positions to form a semicircle in front of the fireplace. Seeing that five of them were already occupied by her fellow prefects, she made her way over and settled herself into the sixth.

“Alright, looks like we’re all here,” Cam declared. “Sam?”

Samantha Carter, the other seventh-year prefect, got up from her chair and removed a small object from the pocket of her robes. With a tap of her wand, it expanded into what was now clearly recognizable as a runestone. She placed her wand against the runestone once more, and the runes engraved into it began to emit a purple glow. As Sam continued to charge the runic array, a thin stream of light began to issue from the runestone, coalescing into a translucent purple dome above the semicircle of chairs.

“Privacy ward,” Sam explained as she sat back down. “It’ll keep us from being overheard.”

Now that magic was no longer actively being fed into it, the glow from the runestone dimmed slightly, and the dome of the ward perimeter faded into invisibility.

“Okay then,” Cam began. “First off, I’d like to thank the five of you for taking the time out of your schedules to be here despite the short notice.”

“Not a problem now that OWLs are over and done with,” Dusty Mehra, one of the fifth-year prefects, assured him.

“Good,” Cam replied. “Now, let’s get down to business. One of our own has been attacked and is lying unconscious in the Hospital Wing.”

“Hang on,” Laura interrupted. “Let’s not go jumping to conclusions here. We don’t know who fired first.”

“As much as I hate to admit it, she has a point,” Laura’s yearmate Evan Lorne put in. “This did happen during the time we were scheduled to take our Defense exam. It’s possible they decided to have a spar to warm up for the exam and just got carried away.”

“Carried away or no, we have to send a message that we’re not gonna stand for this!” Sam shot back.

“She’s right,” Cam agreed. “We let Weir get away with this, the whole House looks like a bunch of pushovers.”

“For Merlin’s sake, Cam, why do you think McGonagall called the bloody Aurors?” Evan asked. “Look, I know O’Neill was in the Snake Pit when he was here, but he’s not the point man on the investigation. Hammond is.”

“Wait, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Randall Bates interjected. “First things first, we need to put some kind of a guard on Sheppard in case one of Weir’s associates tries to finish the job.”

Cam pointed at him emphatically. “Good thinking.”

“Now, wait just a minute here,” Laura said, holding up one hand. “This doesn’t make any sense. Regardless of who fired first—why would she try to _kill him_? They’re _dating_.”

“Oh, come on, surely you don’t believe that bitch honestly had feelings for him?” Sam scoffed.

“Easy, Sam,” Evan chided. “No need to resort to name-calling.”

“Sorry,” Sam replied, although her demeanor made it clear she didn’t really mean it. “Look, my guess is she started the relationship to get close to him, and once she got whatever it was she wanted from him, he became a loose end.”

Laura shook her head. “I don’t buy it. There must be something Dumbledore isn’t telling us. That’s the only way any of this makes sense.”

“Now why would he do that?” Cam asked.

“I don’t know!” Laura shot back defensively. “Maybe there was someone else involved, and Dumbledore doesn’t want to let on that he knows that until he figures out who it was.”

“That’s reaching,” Evan replied.

“Let’s stay focused, people,” Cam told them. “I want options for a retaliatory strike. Nothing that’ll land anyone in St. Mungo’s; we just want to rattle their cages and let them know we’re not gonna be targets.”

“Have you been listening to me at all, Mitchell?” Laura asked incredulously. “Even if we accept that they were dueling each other, we have no idea who started it.”

“He follows her around like a lost puppy. It’s pathetic,” Sam pointed out. “You really think he would’ve been the one to fire the first spell?”

“ _I_ think this whole thing smacks of a cover-up!” Laura responded.

“That’s not the biggest problem with this,” Evan said. “Cam—are you off your nut? There are _Aurors_ in the castle!”

“Well, term ends Friday, so we can’t exactly wait for them to leave,” Cam noted.

Laura huffed in frustration. “Look, let’s just say, theoretically, you’re right about Elizabeth. She came out of the duel having been hit with a Conjunctivitis Curse and a Bone-Breaker in addition to being magically exhausted. John is only in the Hospital Wing for the magical exhaustion. Doesn’t it send enough of a message that she came out worse off?”

“No, those hits could’ve easily come from Professor Caldwell when he was trying to break it up before she killed him,” Cam countered.

Laura raised an eyebrow. “Now you’re the one who’s reaching. Why would a professor trying to subdue an unruly student be using borderline Dark curses?”

“He probably wasn’t,” Bates put in. “I’ll bet they were her own curses reflected off his shield.”

“Cam, please just let the Aurors handle this,” Evan pleaded.

“What’s the matter, Lorne, you too scared to get your hands dirty?” Dusty taunted.

“Look, there is a fine line between bravery and stupidity,” Evan argued.

“I know that,” Cam replied. “Stupid would be trying to take them on their home turf. That’s not what I’m talking about here. What I’m saying is we just set up an ambush in a corridor somewhere. Wait until we get about 4 or 5 Slytherins passing through, jump out, stun them, maybe throw in a few other hexes for humiliation value, nothing Pomfrey can’t handle, then we bail and leave them for someone to find.”

“If we disillusion ourselves, no one will be able to finger specific participants,” Sam added. “Sure, they’ll probably be able to guess Gryffindors were responsible, but they won’t know which ones. If they can’t point fingers at any names, the worst punishment they’ll be able to give is to take House points.”

“Are you trying to start a war?” Evan asked. “If you do this, they will feel the need to retaliate, and before you know it, you’re trapped in a game of chicken where neither side wants to be the first to deescalate.”

“Which lasts for what? The five days until term ends?” Bates pointed out. “It’ll all be forgotten over the summer.”

Evan pressed his hands to his temples. “Look, if you want to set up a protection detail for John, I’m happy to take a shift, but I want no part in anything else.”

“Same here,” Laura piped up.

Cam sighed. “Can I at least trust you won’t tell the professors?”

Evan nodded.

“I won’t seek them out and tell them, but I won’t lie to them if asked,” Laura told him.

“Alright,” Cam said resignedly. He nodded to Sam, who deactivated the privacy ward long enough for the two sixth-year prefects to leave.

“I assume you’ll let us know when our shifts on guard duty are?” Evan asked.

Cam nodded. “Actually, why don’t you head down there now and take first shift?”

“Will do,” Evan replied.

* * *

Near the end of dinner that night, Rodney and Carson stood from their benches and marched up the center aisle to the staff table.

“What’s the matter, Dumbledore?” Rodney called. “Turning three-quarters of the school against Elizabeth wasn’t enough for you? Now you have to keep the few friends she has left away from her on top of that?”

Dumbledore smiled at them genially, his eyes twinkling. “You must understand, my dear boy, it’s for your own safety.”

“Bollocks!” Carson shot back. “Ye know damn well there is nae good medical reason tae be puttin’ Eliz’beth in quarantine, or Madam Pomfrey wouldae din it ‘erself!”

Snape stood from his chair to move closer to where the three were conversing, his robes billowing behind him as he walked. “Why was I not informed of this?” he asked Dumbledore.

Seeing the crowd beginning to gather, the two Aurors also stood and made their way over.

“You of all people must understand, Severus,” Dumbledore told him, standing up to be at eye level with the rest of the group. “I have reason to believe Miss Weir may be exerting a Dark influence over Mister Sheppard.”

“We’ve been over this, Albus,” Pomfrey reminded him, coming over to join the discussion. “There were no potions in Mister Sheppard’s system, none of his belongings had any Dark enchantments on them—”

“Wait a minute,” Rodney interrupted. “You had his things _searched_?”

“Hogwarts staff may search any student’s belongings when there is reason to believe that any item therein may pose a threat to the safety of the students or staff,” McGonagall recited, “although such searches are normally conducted by the student’s Head of House! Why was I not given the opportunity to be present, Albus?”

“There was no time to wait for you, Minerva,” Dumbledore responded.

“Mar ifrinn fhuilteach cha robh!” McGonagall shouted, lapsing into Gaelic. She switched back to English, albeit much more heavily accented than usual, before continuing, “E’en i’ we s’poos this theory’d been true, they were booth unconscious! Nae body else was in any danger from ei’r o’ them! Why’d ye feel ‘is was sae urgent ye couldnae e’en tell me afore ye did it?”

“More importantly, if you didn’t find any evidence that Weir was influencing him, why did you still insist on quarantining her?” O’Neill put in.

“Because he never _expected_ to find any evidence, _did you_?” Rodney surmised, turning to Dumbledore as he said the last words. “You just had Madam Pomfrey place her under ‘medical quarantine’ so that you wouldn’t have to say she had been put in _solitary confinement_!”

Hammond glowered at Dumbledore, then turned to face Pomfrey. “Madam Pomfrey, is there _any_ evidence to suggest that Mister Sheppard was not in full control of his faculties?”

“None,” Pomfrey informed him.

“Is there any valid medical reason for Miss Weir to remain under quarantine?”

“Now, wait a minute,” Dumbledore interrupted. “Depending on what method Miss Weir has been using to influence Mister Sheppard, there may not be any detectable effects when she’s no longer actively influencing him.”

Hammond looked at Dumbledore in shock. “Auror Apprentice O’Neill,” he said. “Of the known methods of magically manipulating another person’s thoughts or actions, which ones fit the description just given by Professor Dumbledore?”

“There is only one method that fits that description,” O’Neill responded. “The Imperius Curse.”

McGonagall looked at Dumbledore aghast. “Surely ye dinnae think—”

“As Auror Hammond so rightly pointed out, the Imperius is the only one of the _known_ methods with no detectable aftereffects,” Dumbledore replied.

Snape arched one eyebrow. “You cannot possibly be suggesting Miss Weir has developed her own method.”

“Look, Professor, I don’ know what it is ye have ‘gainst Eliz’beth, but ye _have_ to at least give ‘er a chance,” Carson pleaded. “She’s the sweetest lass I ever met. She doesnae deserve tae be put through this just ‘cause o’ the crest on her robes.”

“As I explained to the Aurors previously, the John Sheppard I’ve gotten to know in my interactions with him would never have used the sorts of spells that were recovered from his wand,” Dumbledore said as if speaking to a small child. “The only plausible explanation is that his actions must not have been fully his own.”

“Or _maybe_ it just means you don’t know him as well as you think you do,” Rodney shot back.

“As I was asking before I was so _rudely_ interrupted,” Hammond said, glaring at Dumbledore, “is there any valid medical reason why Miss Weir should remain quarantined?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Pomfrey informed him. “Regulations require that a medical quarantine, once initiated, must remain in place for at least forty-eight hours before it can be lifted.”

“Is that the only reason?” Hammond asked.

“Yes,” Pomfrey confirmed. “Once forty-eight hours pass since the quarantine was initiated, there will be no further reason for her to remain quarantined.”

“Then I am ordering you to lift the quarantine as soon as regulations allow,” Hammond told her, never taking his eyes off Dumbledore.

“I must warn you again, George—”

“For the last time, Dumbledore, you will address me as _Senior Auror Hammond_.”

Dumbledore paid him little mind. “In any event, I must warn you against this course of action—”

“Do you take me for a fool, Dumbledore?” Hammond interrupted. “If you’ve somehow deluded yourself into believing I think you didn’t know exactly what you were doing by sticking your wand in where it had no business being and ordering Madam Pomfrey to quarantine Miss Weir, then you are sorely mistaken.”

“Even if she is unable to maintain her hold over him right now due to her magical exhaustion, it will only be a temporary reprieve for Mister Sheppard unless we act to ensure she cannot reestablish that hold once she recovers,” Dumbledore argued.

“Look, even if we accept your dubious ‘evidence’ that Sheppard was under some sort of Dark influence, that doesn’t prove _anything_ about _how_ he came to be under this alleged ‘influence,’” O’Neill pointed out.

“I assure you, this is purely precautionary—” Dumbledore began.

“Stow it, Albus,” McGonagall interrupted. “Yer nae foolin’ a body.”

Dumbledore sighed. “Very well. Then I am deducting one hundred points from Slytherin and expelling Miss Weir from Hogwarts.”

Snape was furious. “As Miss Weir’s Head of House, I hereby inform you of my intent to appeal this decision to the Board of Governors on her behalf!”

Dumbledore turned to Pomfrey. “Arrange for Miss Weir to be transferred to St. Mungo’s upon the expiration of the quarantine period.”

“An’ make the same arrangements fer Mister Sheppard,” McGonagall ordered, trying to suppress her accent. “I’m deducting a hundred points from Gryffindor an’ recommending Mister Sheppard be expelled.”

“Mister Sheppard will face no punishment,” Dumbledore stated. “His actions were not fully his own.”

“Without meaning to be presumptuous, especially since I have no actual authority in this matter,” Hammond put in, “but in the interest of avoiding any appearance of a rush to judgment, I would strongly encourage you to wait until the criminal investigation into this matter concludes before imposing discipline.”

“I concur with Auror Hammond’s suggestion,” Snape declared, turning to look at Dumbledore pointedly.

“As do I,” McGonagall added, also fixing Dumbledore with a stern glare.

Dumbledore sighed. “Perhaps it would be best if we were to let everyone cool off overnight and resume this discussion in the morning. Imposition of the sanctions against Miss Weir will be stayed until then pending further review.”

* * *

Laura didn’t normally patrol with her wand drawn, but the events of the past two and a half days had left her a bit skittish. On top of that, she was supposed to have been paired with Elizabeth, but the other girl’s stay in the Hospital Wing meant Laura was flying solo, so the feel of the wand in her hand restored some of the sense of security that was lost by not having a partner.

As she rounded the corner into the next corridor, she noticed one of the doors on the right side of the corridor moving slightly on its hinges, although it remained closed. She quickly strode over and raised her wand at the lock. “ _Alohomora_!” she incanted.

Immediately the door fell open and two students tumbled out, both breathing heavily. Laura sighed. _Thank Merlin they hadn’t gotten their clothes off yet,_ she thought.

“It’s not what it looks like,” the girl said quickly, straightening her tie.

Laura raised an eyebrow. Vala Mal Doran’s propensity for late-night… _escapades_ had made her a well-known face to the castle’s platoon of prefects. “Like I’m going to believe that. Five points from Slytherin for lying to me. And…” she paused to glance at the trim on the boy’s robes, “that’ll be ten points each from Hufflepuff and Slytherin for being out past curfew.”

Laura held out a hand to help the Hufflepuff boy to his feet. “Get back to your dorm,” she ordered.

Out of the corner of her eye, Laura saw Vala stand up and begin to make her way back toward the dungeons. Suddenly realizing the opportunity that had presented itself, she reached out and took hold of the older girl’s arm. “Not you, Mal Doran.”

“What, you going to march me off to Snape and have him give me detention?” Vala asked.

Laura shook her head and released Vala’s arm. After glancing up and down the corridor to ensure they were alone, she leaned in closer to Vala and lowered her voice before replying, “I need you to pass along a warning to the rest of your House.”

Vala’s hand drifted toward her wand. “I’m not sure I like the sound of that.”

“Just hear me out,” Laura requested. “Mitchell blames Elizabeth for what happened Friday afternoon. He’s planning retribution.”

Vala let her hand drop back to her side. “You have my attention.”

“They’re going to disillusion themselves, lie in wait in a corridor—unfortunately, I don’t know which one—and when a group of four or five Slytherins comes along, they’re going to jump out, stun them, throw in a few other miscellaneous hexes—quote, ‘nothing Pomfrey can’t handle’—and then leave them for the next person who comes along to find,” Laura told her.

“Who else is involved?” Vala asked.

“Besides Mitchell? Carter, Bates, and Mehra that I know of,” Laura responded. “I’d say it’s likely he recruited a few more after Lorne and I told him we wanted no part of it.”

“Are they targeting any Slytherins in particular?”

Laura shook her head. “As far as I’m aware, they’re just looking for a target of opportunity.”

Vala nodded. There was a brief pause before she stated, “There’s just one thing I don’t understand. Why tell me all this?”

“Because I know Elizabeth’s not the kind of girl who would do what they’re accusing her of,” Laura replied. “Whatever happened in that corridor, it’s not what Dumbledore claims happened, or at a minimum, what Dumbledore’s told us isn’t the whole story. No more blood needs to be shed over this misunderstanding.”

“You do realize there are those in the Serpent’s Lair who, if they knew the Lion’s Den was looking to stir up trouble, would be happy to oblige,” Vala pointed out.

“Just warn them to be extra vigilant.”

“I will,” Vala assured her.

Laura nodded. “Good. Now get back to your dorm.”

As Vala scarpered back to the dungeons, Laura sighed heavily and resumed her rounds, hoping she hadn’t just made things worse instead of better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have nothing against Mitchell or Carter as characters; it's just that, based on how I've translated their Gateverse backstories into the Potterverse, this is how I believe they would react in this situation.
> 
> Also, I do not speak Scottish Gaelic. If McGonagall's line in that language is mistranslated, please leave a comment telling me how to correct it so I can do so.


	5. Chapter 5

It was a slightly different group of six that gathered under a privacy ward in the Gryffindor common room Monday morning.

“I assume you both have a general idea what the objective is?” Cam asked the two newcomers.

Aiden grinned dangerously. “We’re gonna hit back against the Slytherins for what they did to John.”

Cam nodded in confirmation. “Here’s the plan. We disillusion ourselves, then head for the fourth-floor corridor and wait for a group of Slytherins to come through. Then we stun them, add in a few more hexes for good measure—nothing that’ll cause any lasting damage, we just want to send a message—then we head back here and crack open a case of butterbeer.”

“How do we make sure we’re all on the same page as far as which group of Slytherins we target?” Marshall Sumner asked. “We’ll all be disillusioned, so we can’t use hand signals.”

Sam thought for a moment. “We can use a Communication Charm like the ones on the prefect badges. I can apply them to the Gryffindor crests on our robes.”

Once this was done, Cam placed his wand against the crest and said, “Testing, testing.”

When the other five heard Cam’s voice coming from their own crests, Cam removed his wand and asked, “Okay, any last concerns before we head out?”

Dusty shook her head. “I think that about covers it.”

“Good,” Cam replied. “Let’s do it.”

Sam deactivated the privacy ward, shrank the runestone, and slipped it into her pocket. The six of them then disillusioned themselves and stepped through the portrait hole.

* * *

The first thing John noticed as he began to come back to awareness was the familiar pattern of the Hospital Wing ceiling. Instinctively, he began wiggling his fingers and toes. _Yep, all still there,_ he thought. _Now, how did I—_

Suddenly, the memory of what had happened cut through his mental fog like a Severing Charm. “Lizbeth…” he breathed, immediately at full alertness.

“It’s alright, my boy,” Dumbledore told him, having appeared at John’s bedside seemingly out of nowhere. “It could take some time for the effects of her influence to wear off.”

John’s Occlumency shields slammed into place. “What are you talking about?”

“Miss Weir has been using the Dark Arts to influence your mental state,” Dumbledore explained patiently.

“Where is she?” John asked.

“Don’t worry, my boy, I’ve taken the necessary precautions to make sure she’ll be unable to reassert her influence over you,” Dumbledore assured him, “although as I mentioned, there could be lingering effects for a few weeks. Your mental state should be back to normal by mid-July.”

John let his head drop back onto the pillow. “You’ve finally lost your gobstones, haven’t you?”

Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling even more than usual. “John, my boy, I imagine this must be rather disconcerting for you—”

“Damn right it is!” John snarled, grabbing Dumbledore’s beard and pulling his face down to within inches of John’s own. “You honestly think I’m buying any of your hippogriff shit? Elizabeth would _never_ do anything like what you’re suggesting! Now _where is she_?”

“You must understand, my boy—” Dumbledore began.

“I am not _your boy_!” John interrupted.

“Miss Weir’s influencing of your mind is causing you to view her in a much more positive light than you otherwise would,” Dumbledore continued, ignoring John’s outburst.

“I am not going to ask you again, Dumbledore,” John growled. “Where is Elizabeth?”

By this time, their exchange had drawn the attention of Madam Pomfrey. “Over my _strenuous_ objections, Miss Weir has been placed under quarantine.”

John gave Dumbledore one final shove before releasing him while at the same time turning to face Pomfrey. “What’s wrong with her?”

“Other than being magically exhausted, there’s nothing wrong with her, but the _headmaster_ insisted that Miss Weir had been somehow mind-controlling you, despite there being absolutely _no_ evidence to support that conclusion,” Pomfrey explained.

“We’ve been over this, Poppy,” Dumbledore reminded her.

“The fact that Mister Sheppard was dueling to kill does not mean that he is being mind-controlled!” Pomfrey argued. “Now, if you will excuse me, I must notify the Aurors that Mister Sheppard has regained consciousness.”

“I’ll fetch Minerva,” Dumbledore stated. “As his Head of House, she should be present as well.”

* * *

When they arrived in the fourth-floor corridor, Cam held the tip of his wand against the crest on his robes and whispered, “Okay, you see the pillars on either side of the corridor? I’ll be behind the fourth pillar on the right-hand side. Ford, behind the third on the right; Mehra, second on the right.”

“Copy that,” Aiden responded.

“Then on the left-hand side, I want Carter, Sumner, and Bates behind the fourth, third, and second pillars, respectively,” Cam continued.

“You got it, Cam,” Sam replied.

Once they had all reported that they were in position, Cam instructed, “Now, once I indicate that we have our target, I want you to fire when the target group is parallel with the sixth set of pillars.”

“First volley is stunners only, right?” Bates asked.

“Right,” Cam confirmed. “Then once they’re all down, we can pop out from behind the pillars and fire the rest of the spells from point-blank.”

“Let me make sure everyone is absolutely clear on this,” Carter added. “Even once we leave our current positions to cast the rest of our spells, remain disillusioned until we are back in the common room. If we drop the disillusionment too early, we run the risk of being identified.”

“Understood,” Dusty replied.

“Alright, let’s hunker down, people,” Cam ordered. “We could be here a while.”

* * *

“You’re not completely recovered from the magical exhaustion yet, Mister Sheppard, but all the readings look good,” Pomfrey informed him. “I’ll take another set of readings later this afternoon, and if I see the amount of progress I’m expecting, we should be able to have you back in your dorm tonight.”

“That’s good,” John remarked.

“I’ll probably need you to refrain from using magic for a period of time,” Pomfrey continued. “I’ll let you know exactly how long when I’m ready to release you.”

“Well, seeing as Mister Sheppard’s wand is currently being held as evidence in an active murder investigation, I don’t believe that will be a problem for him,” a voice came from the Hospital Wing entrance.

Pomfrey looked over to see a balding man in solid grey robes walking into the Hospital Wing flanked by Hammond and O’Neill. “And you are?”

“Richard P. Woolsey, Ministry Prosecution Service. Mister Sheppard, you are under—”

Hammond shot Woolsey a glare. “Mister Sheppard, I’m Senior Auror Hammond, this is Auror Apprentice O’Neill. We’re investigating the death of Professor Caldwell.”

“I suppose you’re here for my memory of the incident?” John asked.

Hammond nodded. “It would be extremely helpful if you would be willing to provide us with one.”

Woolsey grabbed Hammond by the arm and spun him around to face away from John’s bed, prompting O’Neill to turn around as well. The three conversed in furious whispers for a short while before eventually turning back around.

“Mister Sheppard,” Hammond began, “the Ministry formally requests permission to interrogate you under the influence of Veritaserum. I remind you that as a member of an Ancient House, you have the right to refuse permission, and if you choose to do so, that decision cannot be used as evidence against you should this matter come to trial. I further remind you that your decision to grant or refuse permission in this case shall not be considered binding against you in any future case. Do you understand?”

“I understand,” John confirmed.

“With that information in mind, are you willing to grant permission for Veritaserum to be administered?” Hammond asked.

John nodded. “I am.”

Hammond turned to O’Neill. “Return to the Ministry and fetch the Veritaserum and the necessary forms for its use,” he ordered. Turning to Dumbledore, he asked, “Do you have a spare memory phial lying about?”

“I do not recall,” Dumbledore replied.

“Then fetch one of those as well,” Hammond instructed O’Neill.

O’Neill nodded, then turned and departed.

“Is it really necessary that Mister Sheppard be placed under Veritaserum?” McGonagall asked.

John held up a hand to silence her protests. “It’s alright, Professor. I have nothing to hide.”

“I don’t doubt that, Mister Sheppard, I’m just rather disconcerted that the Ministry believes you would provide a false memory if Veritaserum were not used,” McGonagall explained.

“He is the prime suspect in Professor Caldwell’s murder, and the most recent spell cast from his wand matches the professor’s cause of death,” Woolsey pointed out. “I’d say he has every reason to cover his arse.”

Unable to formulate a reply, McGonagall fixed Woolsey with a murderous glare.

O’Neill returned shortly thereafter bearing a parchment, quill, and a small wooden rack containing three phials. Hammond took the parchment and quill from him and began filling in information on the form. He then presented the parchment and quill to John.

“So that there can be no question that you consented to the administration of Veritaserum, Ministry regulations require that I obtain your consent in writing,” Hammond told him.

John looked over the form and, seeing that everything was in order, signed it in the indicated location. Hammond then took the parchment and quill back from him and added his own signature. Handing the parchment and quill back to O’Neill, Hammond removed one of the phials from the rack and unstoppered it.

“Open your mouth,” he instructed John.

When John had done so, Hammond poured the contents of the phial down John’s throat. After waiting a moment for the Veritaserum to take effect, Hammond asked, “What is your full legal name, without titles?”

“John Patrick Sheppard,” he replied in a monotone.

“What is your date of birth?”

“The fourteenth of June 1968.”

“Into which Hogwarts House were you Sorted?”

“Gryffindor.”

Satisfied that the Veritaserum was working, Hammond took another phial from the rack, removed the stopper, and placed it in John’s left hand. He then drew his wand and placed it in John’s right hand.

“Please provide us with your memory of the events that occurred in the corridor outside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom this past Friday at approximately 3 P.M.,” Hammond instructed.

Moving mechanically, John raised the wand to his temple and slowly drew it away, bringing with it the silvery-white strand of memory, which he guided into the phial in his hand.

Hammond took the phial from John’s hand and stoppered it before turning to O’Neill. “Administer the antidote.”

O’Neill took the third phial from the rack, unstoppered it, and poured its contents down John’s throat.

“Again I must request that Minerva and I be permitted to view the memory with you,” Dumbledore informed Hammond.

Hammond nodded. “Of course.”

“Professor Snape should see it as well,” McGonagall added. “One of his students was involved.”

Hammond, O’Neill, Woolsey, McGonagall, and Dumbledore turned and left the Hospital Wing. While McGonagall left to fetch Snape, the rest trooped up to the headmaster’s office, where Dumbledore removed the Pensieve from its cabinet and set it on his desk. Hammond unstoppered the phial containing the memory John had provided them and poured it into the Pensieve. Once McGonagall and Snape arrived, the six of them leaned into the Pensieve and entered the memory.


	6. Chapter 6

“So, you ready?” John asked as they approached the classroom.

“I’m ready for exams to be over with,” Elizabeth replied.

“Well, Defense is our last one, so another hour and a half and then maybe we can find a broom closet somewhere and—”

“Mind out of the gutter, John,” Elizabeth scolded gently. “We still have to take the exam first. Although…”

She leaned up and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “For luck.”

Smiling devilishly, he turned to face her and placed a kiss on the tip of her nose. “For luck.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes indulgently. “Come on.”

With a final exchange of nods, they resumed walking. When they were about two feet from the entrance, John suddenly stopped, holding out his arm to prevent Elizabeth from going any further. “Whoa, hold up.”

He pointed at a small spot on the wall that was emitting a purple glow. “What is that?”

Elizabeth squinted at where he was pointing. “It almost looks like someone’s carved a runic array into the doorjamb. _Magnify_ ,” she incanted, raising her wand and waving it in a counterclockwise circle around the glowing area.

The area she had circled with her wand appeared to raise itself off the wall, growing in size as it did so.

“Okay, it’s definitely some sort of ward over the classroom entrance,” Elizabeth reported.

“You don’t think this could be the source of the infamous Defense Curse, do you?” John asked.

Elizabeth shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense. You’d think if that were the case, the students would be getting hit with at least some sort of residual effect. I think it’s more likely this is part of the exam. I’ve heard of some professors setting practicals designed to imitate real-world situations, and Professor Caldwell _is_ a retired curse-breaker…”

John hummed. “So any idea yet what this thing does?”

“No,” Elizabeth responded. “I can’t decipher the primary effect cluster. Where’s Daniel when you need him?”

“Okay, cancel the Magnification Charm, stand back, and get ready to shield,” John ordered.

“That’s not going to work. The array contains a power absorption cluster,” Elizabeth told him. “Any spellfire we throw at this thing, it’ll just absorb the magical energy to power itself.”

John harrumphed. “Well, if you can’t figure out what this thing does, maybe I can.”

He raised his wand and pointed it at the doorway. With a bang, three canaries shot forth from the tip of his wand and flew into the classroom. A moment later, they flew back out, seemingly unharmed.

“So, either it’s tuned to target only humans, or it’s tuned to leave conjurations unaffected,” he remarked.

“My guess would be only humans,” Elizabeth replied. “Can you imagine the stink Filch would raise if that stupid cat of his wandered in and got affected by whatever this thing does?”

John nodded thoughtfully. “Now what?”

“We wait for the rest of the class,” Elizabeth proposed. “All of us casting together might be able to throw enough at it to overload the absorption cluster.”

John caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. “Down!”

He and Elizabeth dropped to the floor as a brace of stunners flew over their heads. Quickly, John rolled onto his back and brought his wand up. “ _Expelliarmus_! _Stupefy_! _Incarcerous_!” Beside him, Elizabeth sent off three silent Stinging Hexes.

John silently cast a shield to cover the two of them while they got back to their feet. It withstood a smattering of stunners, Impediment Jinxes, and Full Body-Binds before he dispersed it and counterattacked with two stunners of his own.

“Consider me impressed,” Professor Caldwell told them, stepping out from behind the bend in the corridor. “Most students would’ve gone right in without even noticing the ward on the door.”

“Well, we’re not most students, are we?” John asked rhetorically, subtly jabbing his wand in the direction of the professor’s knee.

Immediately Caldwell was ready with a shield. “Nice try.”

Just as quickly, he dropped the shield and returned fire. “ _Confringo_! _Expulso_! _Reducto_! _Bombarda maxima_!”

John and Elizabeth both raised shields. “ _Deprimo_! _Defodio_!” John shot back once he felt that his shield was no longer under assault.

With alarm, Elizabeth noticed that the corridor was beginning to flood. Glancing down the corridor, she could see that water was gushing from the palm of Caldwell’s off hand even as he shielded with his wand. “ _Siccatio_ ,” she intoned, pointing her wand at the growing puddle on the floor. Immediately the water began to disperse.

Caldwell’s face broke into a feral grin, and he discontinued his wandless _Aguamenti_. “Your powers of observation continue to impress me.”

Silently, John moved the tip of his wand in a clockwise circle. Thick grey smoke began to pour from the end of the wand, quickly filling the corridor and obscuring their vision. After casting a Detection Charm to ascertain his position, Elizabeth fired a silent spell chain at Caldwell, the wand movements blurring into one another.

A fierce wind shot down the corridor, clearing the smoke. A tear on the sleeve of Caldwell’s robe told of a Cutting Curse that had found its mark, although it appeared that he had already healed the wound. Suddenly, his eyes flashed with an unnatural golden glow. **“I tire of your insolence,”** he said, his voice having dropped dramatically in pitch.

John and Elizabeth barely had time to exchange glances before Caldwell was casting again. Recognizing the dull brown light of the first curse that left Caldwell’s wand as that of the Entrail-Expelling Curse, John hastily conjured a block of stone to absorb the blow and dove to the ground. He heard, rather than saw, the block of stone explode as the curses impacted it. The hair on the back of his neck stood up as a Blood-Boiling Curse flew overtop of him, missing him by inches.

 _Alright, you wanna fight dirty, I can fight dirty,_ John thought, replying with a Coma-Inducing Spell and a pair of Bone-Breaking Curses. The red trim on his robes often made people forget that his family lineage fell on the Darker side of the Grey faction, and although he himself was a Lighter Grey, now that they were dealing with a professor who was a) probably no longer in his right mind and b) definitely trying to kill them, he had no qualms about drawing on the Dark Arts knowledge base that comprised much of the spell repertoire he was taught at home.

“ _Fulmena maxima_!” Elizabeth cried from beside him. A jet of blue-white lightning shot from the tip of her wand and impacted against Caldwell’s shield. John took advantage of the distraction to lob off an Organ-Liquefying Curse and another Bone-Breaker.

With a wide sweep of his wand, Caldwell dispelled his shield and sent Elizabeth’s stream of lightning upward into the ceiling. He then sidestepped John’s curses and responded with a volley of his own.

Caldwell’s casting speed was incredible, easily nullifying the numerical advantage the two sixth-years held over him. _Where the hell is the rest of the class?_ John wondered as he pushed Elizabeth out of the way of a Strangulation Curse. “ _Viscera expulso_! _Punctura cernenda_! _Pulmonis rumpitur_!”

As Caldwell once again moved to dodge John’s spells, Elizabeth silently fired an Organ-Liquefying Curse and a Piercing Curse at where she expected Caldwell’s dodge would carry him to. Caldwell spotted the two additional spells almost immediately and raised a shield to counter them.

Caldwell’s eyes flashed golden again. **“Enough of this. _Crucio_!”**

Elizabeth quickly raised her wand and conjured a wooden block to intercept the curse. The curse exploded the block on impact, forcing her and John to shield themselves against the splinters. Meanwhile, Caldwell pointed his wand at the ground, and out popped the largest cobra either of the two students had ever seen. As soon as it hit the floor, it bared its fangs and slithered toward John menacingly.

John and Elizabeth glanced at each other and nodded. “ _Sanguo furore_! _Abscindere_! _Exoculo_! _Mentus perditus_!” Elizabeth shouted.

As Elizabeth had hoped, the shield breaker she had silently inserted into the middle of her spell chain caught Caldwell off-guard, allowing the Blindness Curse that followed it to slip through his defenses, though he was able to dodge the final Insanity Curse. The distraction allowed John to level his wand at the cobra and silently vanish it.

Caldwell screamed in rage and began shooting massive ropes of fire from the end of his wand. John and Elizabeth both raised shields and hunkered down, not sure what else to do.

After about a minute, the flaming ropes ceased. Immediately John came to his feet. “ _Ossus frangitur_! _Punctura cernenda_! _Strangulato_!”

With John’s voiced spells drawing the blinded professor’s attention away from her, Elizabeth swung out to her right in an attempt to flank Caldwell and silently fired off a series of Cutting Curses. Caldwell blocked both sets of spells with practiced ease and then turned his wand on John, following up a series of silent curses with a voiced **“ _Avada kedavra_!”**

John’s heart was pounding in his ears as he dove under the sickly green jet of light. What he saw when he looked up nearly made him choke on his own saliva.

Caldwell had transferred his wand into his left hand and, even as he engaged Elizabeth in a fierce battle of silent curses—and she hadn’t cast a voiced spell since he’d been blinded, so how did he even know where she was?—he stretched out his right hand toward John and shot a steady stream of blue-white lightning from his fingertips. A hastily erected shield saved John from the worst of the lightning’s effects, but the strain of maintaining the shield against Caldwell’s onslaught was rapidly pushing him to the brink of magical exhaustion.

Glancing over at Elizabeth, he could tell that she, too, was nearing the limit of her body’s capacity to channel magic. Disturbingly, Caldwell looked like he could keep going for hours. Unless reinforcements arrived soon— _and where the hell is the rest of the class? The exam time should’ve started by now,_ John thought again—they were going to need to find a way to end this quickly.

“ _Everte statum_! _Flipendo_! _Depulso_!” Elizabeth yelled, her voice raw.

All three spells missed, and missed badly at that, but the flying bits of stone they took out of the walls were enough to break Caldwell’s concentration, forcing him to discontinue his lightning attack against John. He transferred his wand back to his right hand and fired three more curses at Elizabeth.

“ _Protego_!” she cried.

An Entrail-Expelling Curse splashed against her shield, collapsing it. Before Elizabeth could react, the pale pink light of a Conjunctivitis Curse had her clutching at her eyes, wand falling forgotten from her hand. A deep blue Bone-Breaking Curse caught her square in the chest, sending her crumpling to the floor with a sharp cry of pain.

John saw red. “ _Immolatus_! _Punctura cernenda_! _Viscera liquitur_! _Abscindere_! _Somno perpetuo_! _Sanguo furore_! _PULSATIO TERMINANTUR_!” he bellowed, pouring every last ounce of magic he could muster into his casts.

The barrage of over-powered curses in such rapid succession was too much for Caldwell’s shield to handle, and the Heart-Stopping Curse found its way through to its target. With a final flash of his eyes, Caldwell dropped to the floor.

John’s relief at the victory was short-lived. The exertion of his final spell chain had left him deep in the throes of magical exhaustion, and he barely managed to stumble over to where Elizabeth had fallen before his world went black and he collapsed facedown beside her.


	7. Chapter 7

The memory ended, and the six of them found themselves once again standing in Dumbledore’s office.

“You ever seen anything like that before, sir?” O’Neill asked.

“The deep voice and glowing eyes? No,” Hammond replied. “My best guess is some kind of possession we’ve not encountered before, but that’s just a guess.”

“Well, whatever happened to Professor Caldwell, I believe it’s now clear that this incident was a justifiable homicide by reason of self-defense,” Woolsey stated. “All charges against Mister Sheppard and Miss Weir will be withdrawn.”

Hammond transferred the memory from the Pensieve back into the phial it had been in before and handed the phial to O’Neill. “Take that back to the Ministry and have a copy made for the casefile. While you’re there, retrieve Mister Sheppard’s wand so that we can return it to him.”

“Shall I retrieve Miss Weir’s wand as well?” O’Neill asked.

Hammond nodded. “Please do.”

O’Neill grabbed a handful of Floo powder from the pot on the mantel and threw it into the fire. “Ministry of Magic Atrium!”

After O’Neill departed, Hammond turned to Dumbledore. “Now that we’ve established the circumstances of Professor Caldwell’s death, the focus of our investigation now shifts to figuring out what happened to him so we can take precautions against it happening again in the future. Did any of his symptoms look even remotely familiar to you?”

“You said his autopsy revealed a brain tumor,” Woolsey recalled. “Could that be connected to his unusual behavior?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Hammond responded. “That’s a question for someone at St. Mungo’s.”

Woolsey held up his hands defensively. “I don’t know either. I’m just thinking out loud here.”

Hammond nodded. “I’ll contact St. Mungo’s, have them take a closer look.”

“I need to get back to the Ministry and formally withdraw the charges against Mister Sheppard and Miss Weir,” Woolsey said.

Once the two of them Flooed away, Dumbledore turned to Snape. “Severus, you’re our resident expert on the Dark Arts. Did you recognize any of Steven’s symptoms?”

Snape shook his head. “Unfortunately, I did not. Now, I presume that in light of this new information, you will reverse the disciplinary actions taken last night against Miss Weir and Mister Sheppard?”

Dumbledore sighed. “You must understand my position here, Severus. Miss Weir has been using the Dark Arts to influence Mister Sheppard’s mental state and cause him to do things he never would otherwise!”

“Like what?” Snape scoffed. “Meeting Professor Caldwell’s lethal force with lethal force of his own?”

“Exactly!” Dumbledore replied, apparently oblivious to Snape’s sarcasm. “That cannot be allowed to go unpunished!”

“You forget that the House of Sheppard straddles the line between Grey and Dark,” Snape reminded him. “It is possible that like Sirius Black, John Sheppard concealed his true sentiments from us and revealed them only now, when he arrogantly believed no one would find out.”

“As much as I hate to admit it, Albus, he may have a point,” McGonagall put in. “You will recall the altercation in his second year?”

“That was different, Minerva,” Dumbledore responded. “For one, the war was still on then.”

“Was it really that different?” McGonagall asked.

“Exchanging hexes with a fellow student is a far cry from dueling a professor to the death,” Dumbledore pointed out.

Realizing the trap McGonagall had led Dumbledore into, Snape interjected, “Then you concede that Mister Sheppard was, in fact, acting of his own accord?”

“I never said that,” Dumbledore shot back defensively.

“The assumption was inherent in your response to the line of questioning,” Snape countered. “If his actions were not his own, any comparison to prior actions would be irrelevant.”

“My decision as announced last night is unchanged,” Dumbledore declared, ignoring Snape. “Mister Sheppard will face no punishment; Miss Weir will be docked one hundred points and will be expelled from Hogwarts.”

“As Deputy Headmistress, I hereby lodge a formal protest against this decision,” McGonagall replied, clenching her fists at her sides.

“And as Miss Weir’s Head of House, I hereby inform you once again of my intent to file an appeal with the Board of Governors on her behalf,” Snape added. “I further request that enforcement of the discipline imposed against Miss Weir be stayed pending the decision of the Board.”

“Denied,” Dumbledore responded. “Miss Weir’s continued presence in the castle poses an imminent threat to student safety.”

“Then I will be contacting the Board chairman and requesting an expedited hearing,” Snape told him. “If you will excuse me.”

* * *

Three students turned into the fourth-floor corridor. Seeing the green trim on all their robes, Bates touched his wand to the crest on his robes. “This our target, Cam?”

“Negative!” Cam whispered back. “They’re firsties, Bates! This wouldn’t look like payback! It’d look like us picking on little kids who wouldn’t be able to defend themselves even if we gave them the opportunity!”

“We may not get another shot at this!” Dusty protested.

“The answer is no,” Cam said firmly. “We wait until we get some upper-year snakes cruising through here, and we hit them.”

* * *

Hammond and McGonagall entered the Hospital Wing and made their way over to John’s bed.

“After reviewing the memory you gave us, we’ve been able to clear you of wrongdoing in this incident,” Hammond told John. He then reached into his robes. “Your wand and the memory you gave us. A copy of your memory has been included in our official report.”

“Has Elizabeth also been cleared?” John asked.

“She has,” Hammond replied. He reached into his robes again. “Can I trust you to get this back to her?”

McGonagall plucked Elizabeth’s wand from Hammond’s hand before John could answer. “Unfortunately, I’ll have to take possession of that. Albus, in his _infinite_ wisdom, is standing by the decision he made last night to expel Miss Weir.”

John looked at her in alarm. “Has he seen my memory of the incident?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” McGonagall informed him. “And before you ask, Professor Snape has already filed an appeal with the Board of Governors on her behalf. He’s hoping they’ll agree to an expedited hearing.”

“If the Board wants to see my memory, they’re welcome to it,” John declared, holding the phial out to McGonagall.

“I’ll make sure the Board has access to the Auror casefile regarding the incident,” Hammond assured them.

“You said a copy of my memory is part of that casefile?” John asked. Seeing Hammond nod in affirmation, John unstoppered the phial, inserted the tip of his wand, and used it to carry the memory strand back up to his temple. Having put the memory back into his mind, he set his wand back on the side table and handed McGonagall the empty phial.

“Thank you, Mister Sheppard,” McGonagall responded. “Unless there’s anything else?”

“When can I see Elizabeth?”

McGonagall shook her head sadly. “Not until the governors rule on her appeal.”

John’s face fell. “When will that be?”

“If they grant the motion for an expedited hearing, it could be as soon as tomorrow morning,” McGonagall answered. “If not…you may have to wait until summer.”

“Then let’s hope the Board is sympathetic,” John said.

McGonagall nodded. “Agreed.”

John turned his head to face Hammond. “Have you figured out what happened to Professor Caldwell?”

“Not yet,” Hammond told him. “Now that we’ve seen your memory of the incident, I’ve asked St. Mungo’s to perform a second autopsy in case there was something we missed simply because we didn’t know to look for it.”

“If that’s all,” McGonagall said, “I believe some of your friends are waiting to see you.”

John nodded. “By all means, send them in.”

Hammond and McGonagall turned and exited the Hospital Wing. A few seconds later, the door opened again, admitting Rodney, Ronon, Carson, and Laura.

“How’re ye feeling, John?” Carson asked.

“Well, let’s see, my Defense professor just tried to kill me, and now I’m finding out that my girlfriend’s been expelled,” John replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Rodney’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Unbelievable. The old bastard’s actually going through with it.”

“I think he might be going senile,” John speculated. “He said something about Elizabeth trying to manipulate my mental state.”

“Trying to get you to go Dark,” Ronon put in.

“I presume that’s what he must think,” John agreed. “Quite frankly, the so-called Leader of the Light spouting off all this nonsense is pushing me more toward the Dark than anything Elizabeth ever did.”

“He also made an announcement at dinner Friday night claiming that you and Elizabeth were dueling each other,” Laura told him.

John looked at her incredulously. “What? That’s ridiculous!”

“Only if you assume Weir’s being honest,” Ronon pointed out. “With Slytherins, that’s never a safe assumption to make.”

John raised one eyebrow. “Seriously?”

Rodney shot Ronon an annoyed glare. “You had to bring it up, didn’t you?”

“Ronon and Aiden are convinced Elizabeth’s been deceiving us and she just wanted to get close to ye so she could kill ye,” Carson explained.

John sighed. “Ronon, look at me. Elizabeth Weir is not a Dark witch. Professor Caldwell…the Aurors don’t know yet what happened to him. One minute, we were sparring with him—it seemed like it was all part of the exam—and the next, his eyes start glowing and he starts speaking in a really deep voice. He tried to _Crucio_ Elizabeth and he tried to AK me.”

Ronon’s expression sobered. “Sounds like some sort of possession.”

John nodded in agreement. “That was my thought.”

“I guess I owe you guys an apology,” Ronon said.

Rodney gave Ronon a pat on the shoulder. “It’s alright, buddy. Better you wrong than the rest of us.”

Ronon shot him a sideways glance. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I’d rather have you temporarily lose trust in her than find out we were wrong to trust her in the first place,” Rodney replied. “Not that I’m saying you have trust issues. I know you Hufflepuffs can be kind of touchy about that sometimes, what with it being one of your defining attributes and all—”

“What I think he’s trying to say is he’s glad that at the end of the day, we can still call Elizabeth a friend,” John interrupted.

“Yeah, that…pretty much sums it up,” Rodney agreed.

There was a brief awkward silence before John asked, “So what else is new?”

“Kolya thinks you and Elizabeth are both Dark,” Ronon told him.

“He’s been saying that since I kicked his arse in second year,” John replied dismissively.

“Well, this time, he’s actually got some people believing him, especially about Elizabeth,” Carson said.

John was almost afraid to ask, but he had to know. “How many?”

Rodney sighed. “Let’s just say most of the people who _don’t_ think Elizabeth’s gone Dark are in this room.”

“You’re kidding,” John muttered.

“I wish we were,” Carson responded. “Teyla’s been pretty careful about not expressing an opinion either way, but beyond that…I’d wager her only other supporters outside this room are fellow Slytherins.”

“How many believe him that I’m Dark too?” John asked.

“Not nearly as many,” Laura supplied. “My impression is that most of the Gryffs think she used a combination of Dark magic and her feminine wiles to get… _something_ …from you, and once she got it, she tried to kill you in order to clean up her loose ends.”

“That’s what I thought before you told me about Caldwell,” Ronon agreed.

John nodded. “I see.”

The Hospital Wing door opened again.

“Teyla,” Rodney called. “How nice of you to join us.”

“Rodney,” Teyla said reprovingly, giving him a _look_. Turning her attention to John, she asked, “Are you well?”

“Why does everyone keep asking me that?” John huffed.

“Caldwell was possessed,” Ronon explained, “and apparently Dumbledore’s having Elizabeth expelled.”

Teyla’s brow furrowed. “For what? Defending herself against attack?”

“Not sure,” John answered. “I thought I heard Dumbledore say something about her manipulating my mental state.”

Teyla seemed momentarily taken aback. “John,” she said finally, “may I test your Occlumency shields?”

Rodney turned to look at her in disbelief. “You don’t actually think she’s capable of—”

John waved him off. “It’s alright, Rodney. I’m sure she won’t find anything.”

Teyla walked around to the foot of John’s bed and locked eyes with him. After several seconds, she broke eye contact and declared, “His shields have not been compromised.”

On hearing this, Carson closed his eyes and let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding.

“There’s another strike against Dumbledore,” Rodney commented. John nodded silently in agreement.

“Has Dumbledore seen your memory of what happened?” Laura asked.

John could only nod. “Apparently his ‘evidence’ that Elizabeth was mentally manipulating me was the fact that I was dueling to kill.”

Laura’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s it?” Seeing John nod again, she sighed heavily, pressing two fingers to her temple.

“I can’t believe I’m having to ask this,” Carson began, “but who d’you think replaces Elizabeth as prefect?”

“No one,” John replied immediately. “Professor McGonagall told me Snape intends to appeal the expulsion to the Board of Governors on Elizabeth’s behalf. Under the circumstances, I’m optimistic the Board will overturn.”

Rodney hummed thoughtfully. “Well, I guess Snape isn’t a _complete_ good-for-nothing.”

“Now we just have to hope the governors take the Aurors’ word over Dumbledore’s,” Laura remarked.

“You think they won’t?” Ronon asked in surprise.

“Everything has political ramifications,” Laura explained. “Overturning an expulsion would be tantamount to a no-confidence vote. Unless the governors are prepared to sack the old goat, they might not want to openly undermine his authority.”

“Well, yeah, if this were just an internal school matter, maybe I could see that, but it’s not,” Rodney pointed out, “and I _highly_ doubt the governors want to go on record contradicting the findings of the Auror investigation.”

“Plus you also have to consider the sort of reactions you’d get from the families that are sending their kids here,” John added. “If the Board of Governors were to stand by and allow the firstborn of an Ancient House to be expelled under false pretenses, that’d be setting a pretty dangerous precedent.”

Laura nodded. “Yeah, I can see how a lot of them would baulk at the idea that their kid’s fifteen-plus generations of wizarding blood mean nothing as soon as they board the Express.”

“D’you think this means Dumbledore’s on his way out as headmaster?” Carson asked.

John shook his head. “I don’t know. Him being the Defeater of Grindelwald still carries a lot of weight, not to mention being the only one the Dark Lord ever feared.”

“If word gets out in the _Prophet_ about this, they’ll have a hard time keeping him on,” Laura responded.

“Problem is, if you get rid of Dumbledore, who takes over?” Ronon asked.

“Promote McGonagall,” Carson said as if it were obvious.

“Then who takes over for her?” Ronon pressed.

“Look, speculating won’t get us anywhere,” Rodney interrupted. “All we can do is make sure the _Prophet_ gets wind of it and hope the resulting scandal is enough to see Dumbledore ousted.”

“That may not be the wisest idea,” Teyla said warily.

Rodney turned to look at her incredulously.

“To remove the headmaster would require a unanimous vote of the governors,” Teyla explained. “I believe there are those on the Board whose support of him would not be swayed even by a controversy of this magnitude.”

“So what? We don’t even try?” Rodney asked in disbelief.

“If you are not successful in unseating Professor Dumbledore, you will have made yourselves targets for his ire come the fall,” Teyla responded.

“News flash: we’ve already done that,” Rodney shot back. “As far as I’m concerned, we have nothing to lose by doing this.”

Teyla sighed. “If you insist on doing this, might I suggest a more subtle approach?”

“She’s right,” Ronon put in. “The Auror case report is public record. All you have to do is wind them up and point them in the right direction.”

A smile began to spread across Rodney’s face. “That’s actually a really good idea. Send an anonymous note using a school owl. It’ll be practically untraceable.”

“Madam Pomfrey said she’s hoping to release me later this afternoon,” John told him. “When she does, I’ll come find you?”

Rodney nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”


	8. Chapter 8

The Governors’ Chamber on the sixth floor of the castle had been temporarily rearranged to a layout more reminiscent of a courtroom. The table at which the governors conducted their business during Board meetings had been lengthened so that all twelve governors could sit facing the rest of the room.

Two smaller tables, each with a single chair, had been placed several feet in front of the governors’ table. Dumbledore sat at the table to the governors’ left, while Snape occupied the table to the governors’ right. Behind the tables at which Dumbledore and Snape sat, several rows of chairs had been provided for spectators, although none of these were occupied.

Hearing the clock tower bells toll noon, Lucius Malfoy announced, “This emergency meeting of the Hogwarts Board of Governors is called to order.”

Once he had everyone’s attention, he continued, “The purpose of this emergency meeting is to hear an appeal of the expulsion of Miss Elizabeth Katherine Weir, a sixth-year student in Slytherin House. Representing the appellant is Professor Severus Tobias Snape, Head of Slytherin House, and representing the School is Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. If any governor has a conflict of interest in this matter, please recuse yourself now.”

After a brief silence, Malfoy gave a curt nod. “Let the record reflect that no governor has declared a conflict of interest. Headmaster Dumbledore, the Board will now hear the School’s reasons for expelling Miss Weir.”

Dumbledore stood. “Thank you, Mister Chairman. Miss Weir was expelled for using the Dark Arts to manipulate the mental state of a fellow student, namely Mister John Patrick Sheppard, a sixth-year student in Gryffindor House.”

After Dumbledore sat back down, Malfoy turned to face Snape. “Professor Snape, the Board will now hear appellant’s arguments.”

Snape stood. “Thank you, Mister Chairman. Appellant submits firstly that the School has not sufficiently proven that Miss Weir did, in fact, commit the act for which she was expelled.”

Dumbledore now also stood. “Objection; asks the Board to reconsider a question of fact.”

“Mister Chairman, I intend to show that no reasonable trier of fact could have reached the conclusion that was reached in this case,” Snape responded.

One of the governors stood.

“The chair recognizes Governor Chandler,” Malfoy stated.

“I move to amend the previously adopted motion to grant review of Miss Weir’s expulsion to instead grant rehearing of Miss Weir’s expulsion,” Chandler proposed.

“Seconded,” another governor said.

“The question is that the previously adopted motion to grant review of Miss Weir’s expulsion be amended to instead grant rehearing of Miss Weir’s expulsion,” Malfoy repeated. “The governors are reminded that this motion will require a two-thirds vote in order to pass. The chair once again recognizes Governor Chandler.”

“Thank you, Mister Chairman,” Chandler said. “My fellow governors, we have a duty to ensure that no student is expelled from this institution without just cause. If the original hearing that led to Miss Weir’s expulsion indeed failed to adequately establish the facts of the situation, we must act to remedy that error. Changing the format of this proceeding from a review to a rehearing will allow us to reexamine the facts and determine for ourselves whether they constitute grounds for Miss Weir’s expulsion instead of being forced to rely upon the fact-finding that occurred prior to the original decision. Thank you.”

There was a brief silence after Chandler sat back down.

“Does anyone else wish to speak on the motion?” Malfoy asked. Receiving no response, he continued, “Very well. The question is that the previously adopted motion to grant review of Miss Weir’s expulsion be amended to instead grant rehearing of Miss Weir’s expulsion. As this motion requires a two-thirds vote in order to pass, the vote will be taken by division. All in favor, please rise.”

All twelve governors rose to their feet.

“Be seated,” Malfoy said after a moment. Once they had done so, he said, “All opposed, please rise.”

When no one did so, he declared, “The Ayes have it. Professor Snape, are you prepared to proceed with a rehearing of Miss Weir’s expulsion?”

“I am, Mister Chairman,” Snape replied.

“Headmaster Dumbledore, are you prepared to proceed with a rehearing of Miss Weir’s expulsion?”

Dumbledore sighed reluctantly. “I am, Mister Chairman.”

“Very well,” Malfoy said. In a louder voice, he cried, “Elf!”

One of Hogwarts’ house-elves _popped_ into the room just in front of the governors’ table. “What cans Mopsy be doing for Master Guvvy-nur?”

“Set up a witness chair to the left of the governors’ table,” Malfoy ordered, pointing to where he wanted the chair placed.

The elf _popped_ away. A moment later, a chair like the ones provided for spectators _popped_ into existence where Malfoy had indicated.

“Professor Snape, you may proceed,” Malfoy told him.

Snape stood. “Thank you, Mister Chairman. The appellant calls Madam Poppy Pomfrey, Hogwarts Matron.”

The door at the back of the room opened. Pomfrey entered, walked over to the witness chair, and stood in front of it.

“Do you swear, on the honor of your House, that the testimony you give before this inquiry will be the truth as best you are aware of it?” Malfoy asked her.

Pomfrey nodded. “I do.”

“Be seated,” Malfoy instructed.

“Madam Pomfrey,” Snape began, “when was Mister Sheppard last in your care?”

Dumbledore stood. “Objection; privileged information.”

“Mister Chairman, I have here a signed statement from Mister Sheppard waiving his privacy interest in this matter,” Snape countered. With a flick of his wand, one of the parchments on the table before him floated over to the governors’ table.

Malfoy picked up the parchment and examined it. “Very well. Objection overruled; witness will answer the question.”

“He is currently still in my care,” Pomfrey replied.

Snape nodded. “And when did he come into your care?”

“This past Friday, just after 3 P.M.”

“And what was his condition at that time?”

“He was suffering from severe magical exhaustion,” Pomfrey answered.

When she said nothing else, Professor Snape looked at her oddly. “And?”

“There is no ‘and,’ Professor Snape,” Pomfrey explained. “Other than being magically exhausted, he was in perfect health.”

Snape hummed. “Madam Pomfrey, earlier in these proceedings, the School asserted that the Dark Arts had been used to manipulate Mister Sheppard’s mental state. Did you, in your examination of Mister Sheppard, find anything that would indicate to you that Mister Sheppard’s mental state had been manipulated by any means, Dark Arts or otherwise?”

Again Dumbledore rose. “Objection; calls for a conclusion.”

“Madam Pomfrey is a fully trained healer who has been practicing for over twenty years, Mister Chairman,” Snape pointed out. “It’s a conclusion she’s more than qualified to draw.”

Malfoy nodded. “I agree. Overruled.”

“No,” Pomfrey said. “There was nothing to indicate his mental state had been manipulated.”

“Were there any potions in his system?” Snape asked.

“None,” Pomfrey replied.

Snape nodded. “No further questions, Mister Chairman.”

“Your witness, Headmaster,” Malfoy told him.

Dumbledore stood. “No questions at this time, Mister Chairman; however, I reserve the right to recall this witness.”

“Very well,” Malfoy said. “Madam Pomfrey, you may step down.”

* * *

“I told you we should’ve hit that group that came through here earlier,” Bates whispered into the crest on his robes. “We haven’t seen a single snake since then.”

“Patience, Bates,” Cam whispered back. “I warned you we could be here a while.”

“He’s got a point, Cam,” Dusty put in. “Now that classes are over, a lot of kids will just be staying in their common rooms all day.”

“Yeah, but eventually, people will start to get cabin fever and decide to take a walk around the castle just for a change of scenery,” Cam responded. “We’ll get a better target eventually, even if we have to come back again tomorrow or the day after.”

* * *

 “The appellant calls Miss Teyla Emmagan, a sixth-year student in Hufflepuff House,” Snape announced.

Teyla entered through the same door as Pomfrey had, made her way to the witness chair, and was sworn in.

“Miss Emmagan, please tell the Board about your magical abilities,” Snape requested.

Immediately Dumbledore was on his feet. “Objection; relevance.”

“Laying a foundation, Mister Chairman,” Snape explained.

“Foundation for what?” Dumbledore questioned.

Malfoy sighed. “Approach,” he ordered the two advocates, beckoning with his right hand.

Dumbledore and Snape stepped out from behind their tables and walked up to the governors’ table.

“Miss Emmagan has a natural affinity for the Mind Arts,” Snape told them. “I am attempting to establish her qualification to answer as to the status of Mister Sheppard’s Occlumency shields.”

Dumbledore looked at Snape in disbelief, then turned to face Malfoy. “Appellant’s counsel cannot possibly be suggesting that he intends to use Miss Emmagan as an _expert witness_?”

Malfoy sighed. “In light of the short notice on which this hearing was convened, I am inclined to be a little more lenient than I otherwise would. Step back.”

When Dumbledore and Snape had returned to their respective tables, Malfoy declared, “Objection is overruled, for now.”

“I have a natural affinity for the Mind Arts,” Teyla said.

Snape nodded. “The Mind Arts are traditionally divided into two disciplines, Occlumency and Legilimency. Which is it that you have an affinity for?”

“Both of them,” Teyla replied.

“Miss Emmagan, did you and Mister Sheppard ever practice the Mind Arts together?”

Teyla nodded. “We did.”

“How often did the two of you practice together?”

“About once a month during the school year,” Teyla replied.

“And when did this first begin?”

Teyla thought for a moment. “I believe it was near the end of our third year.”

Snape nodded. “So, all told, Miss Emmagan, about how many times would you say you have worked with Mister Sheppard on the Mind Arts?”

“At least twenty-five.”

“How would you characterize Mister Sheppard’s proficiency in the Mind Arts?”

Dumbledore stood. “Objection; having a natural affinity for the Mind Arts does not make Miss Emmagan an expert witness on the subject.”

Malfoy nodded. “Sustained.”

“Miss Emmagan, when did you last work with Mister Sheppard?”

“Just before ten o’clock this morning,” Teyla answered.

“And at that time, had the strength of his Occlumency shields changed since the previous time you worked with him?”

Dumbledore stood again. “Objection; Mister Chairman, you have already ruled that Miss Emmagan is not an expert witness.”

“One does not need to be an expert to notice change,” Snape argued.

“I agree,” Malfoy said. “Overruled.”

“No, his Occlumency shields had not been compromised,” Teyla told them.

Once more Dumbledore rose to his feet. “Objection and move to strike; non-responsive.”

“Sustained,” Malfoy declared. “The governors will disregard the witness’ statement. Miss Emmagan, I remind you that the question asked was whether the strength of Mister Sheppard’s Occlumency shields had changed between the previous time you worked with him and when you worked with him this morning.”

“Their strength was unchanged,” Teyla confirmed.

Malfoy nodded. “Professor Snape, you may continue.”

Snape shook his head. “No further questions for this witness, Mister Chairman.”

Dumbledore stood. “Miss Emmagan, you also practiced the Mind Arts with Miss Weir, did you not?”

Snape also stood. “Objection; outside the scope of direct.”

“Overruled,” Malfoy stated.

“I did,” Teyla answered.

“Did you ever work with Mister Sheppard and Miss Weir at the same time?” Dumbledore asked.

“Yes.”

“And in those sessions, did you ever have Miss Weir attempt to penetrate Mister Sheppard’s Occlumency shields?” he pressed.

Teyla nodded. “I did.”

“Was she ever successful?”

Teyla sighed. “She was.”

“On how many occasions?”

“Three,” Teyla responded.

“And on those three occasions, when Mister Sheppard brought his shields back up after they had been penetrated by Miss Weir, was the strength of his shields the same as it was before Miss Weir’s attempt to penetrate?”

Snape rose. “Objection; compound question.”

“Sustained,” Malfoy ruled.

Dumbledore nodded. “I’ll rephrase. On the first of the three occasions when Miss Weir successfully penetrated Mister Sheppard’s shields, was the strength of his shields after he brought them back up affected by Miss Weir having successfully penetrated them?”

The reluctance was clear in Teyla’s voice as she answered, “No.”

The ever-present twinkle in Dumbledore’s eyes was out in full force. “What about on the second occasion? Was his shield strength affected by Miss Weir’s successful penetration that time?”

“No.”

“And the third occasion?”

Again Snape came to his feet. “Objection; badgering the witness.”

“Sustained,” Malfoy declared. “You’ve made your point, Headmaster. Move on.”

“Nothing further at this time, Mister Chairman,” Dumbledore informed him. “I reserve the right to recall this witness.”

Snape stood. “Redirect, Mister Chairman?”

Malfoy nodded. “Go ahead.”

“Miss Emmagan, of the three occasions on which Miss Weir successfully penetrated Mister Sheppard’s Occlumency shields, when was the most recent?”

“November of our fifth year.”

“And on how many occasions since then was Miss Weir unsuccessful in attempting to penetrate Mister Sheppard’s Occlumency shields?” Snape asked.

“At least a dozen,” Teyla replied. “I do not know the exact number.”

Snape nodded. “Thank you, Miss Emmagan. No further questions.”

* * *

“Well, everything appears to be in order, Mister Sheppard,” Pomfrey told him. “I don’t want you performing any magic until morning, understood?”

“Yes, Madam Pomfrey,” John replied.

“Good. Run along now,” Pomfrey said, making a shooing motion at him.

“Yes, Madam Pomfrey.”

John left the Hospital Wing and made his way to the Great Hall. After looking up and down the Gryffindor table for a moment, he sat down next to Laura and began filling a plate.

Laura looked over at him and smiled. “Hey, Madam Pomfrey finally let you go.”

“Yeah,” John confirmed. “I’m not supposed to do any magic for the rest of the day, but I guess she trusts me to abide by that enough that she doesn’t feel the need to keep me under supervision.”

Laura chuckled. “Well, Merlin knows you’re in there with quidditch injuries often enough.”

“Hey, have you seen Aiden around?” John asked.

Laura’s expression became worried, and she began looking up and down the table.

“Shite,” she muttered. Raising her wand to her prefect badge, she spoke into it, “Carson, Radek: meet me in the Entrance Hall after lunch.”

* * *

“The appellant calls Headmaster Dumbledore to the stand,” Snape announced.

“Mister Chairman, this is highly irregular,” Dumbledore protested.

“Approach,” Malfoy ordered.

When Snape and Dumbledore came to the governors’ table, Malfoy asked, “Professor Snape, about what do you intend to question the headmaster?”

“As part of his investigation, the headmaster conducted a search of Mister Sheppard’s belongings,” Snape explained. “I intend to question him as to the findings of that search.”

Malfoy nodded. “I’ll allow it. Step back.”

Snape returned to his table, while Dumbledore strode to the witness chair with an air of annoyance.

“Permission to treat as hostile?” Snape requested after Dumbledore had been sworn in.

“Granted,” Malfoy replied.

“Headmaster, as part of your initial investigation into the allegations against Miss Weir, you conducted a search of Mister Sheppard’s belongings, did you not?”

“I did.”

“You suspected that Miss Weir may have been manipulating Mister Sheppard’s mental state by means of a Dark artefact surreptitiously smuggled into his belongings, is that correct?”

“Yes,” Dumbledore confirmed. “I also—”

Snape cut him off. “But when you actually conducted your search, you found no Dark artefacts in Mister Sheppard’s belongings, is that correct?”

“It is.”

“And isn’t it also true, Headmaster, that you found no residual Dark magic traces that would indicate that Mister Sheppard’s belongings had once contained a Dark artefact that was no longer present?”

Dumbledore sighed. “Also correct.”

“Nothing further, Mister Chairman,” Snape stated.

“Do you have a statement you would like to make in response, Headmaster?” Malfoy asked.

Dumbledore shook his head. “No, Mister Chairman.”

“Very well. You may step down,” Malfoy instructed. When Dumbledore had returned to his table, Malfoy continued, “Call your next witness, Professor Snape.”

“The appellant calls Auror Apprentice Jonathan James O’Neill.”

O’Neill entered the room, made his way to the witness chair, and was sworn in.

“Auror O’Neill, were you a member of the team that was recently dispatched to Hogwarts to investigate the death of Professor Steven Caldwell?” Snape asked.

Dumbledore stood. “Objection; relevance.”

“In the records of the original proceeding that led to Miss Weir’s expulsion, the School cites as evidence that Mister Sheppard had been subject to mental manipulation his behavior during the incident that led to Professor Caldwell’s death,” Snape explained.

“Overruled,” Malfoy declared. “The witness will answer.”

“I was,” O’Neill said.

Snape flicked his wand, and a stack of parchments floated from his table up to the governors’ table. “Mister Chairman, I would now like to enter into evidence as appellant’s exhibit A the official Auror casefile concerning the investigation into Professor Caldwell’s death.”

“Very well,” Malfoy stated.

“Auror O’Neill,” Snape began, “what role do memories play in Auror investigations?”

“We normally try to obtain a memory of the incident being investigated from someone who was present at the time,” O’Neill replied.

“Were you able to obtain such a memory in this case?”

O’Neill nodded. “We were.”

“From whom?”

“John Sheppard.”

“And under what circumstances was the memory obtained?”

“Mister Sheppard consented to being interrogated while under the influence of Veritaserum,” O’Neill responded. “The memory was obtained from him during that interrogation.”

“So just to be clear, Auror O’Neill, was Mister Sheppard under the influence of Veritaserum at the time you obtained his memory of the incident?” Snape asked.

Dumbledore rose to his feet. “Objection; asked and answered.”

“Sustained,” Malfoy declared.

“Mister Chairman, also a part of the Auror casefile on the investigation is the memory obtained from Mister Sheppard during his interrogation,” Snape stated, reaching into his robes and pulling out a phial. “I would like to enter that memory into evidence separately as appellant’s exhibit B.”

Malfoy nodded. “I presume you intend to have this memory played for the inquiry?”

“I do,” Snape confirmed.

“Elf!” Malfoy shouted. As soon as one _popped_ into the room, he ordered, “Bring the school Pensieve.”

The elf _popped_ away, and a moment later, the Pensieve from Dumbledore’s office _popped_ onto the governors’ table. Snape then came forward and poured the memory into the Pensieve. After he had done so, Malfoy withdrew his wand and charged a runic array inscribed on the side of the Pensieve. When he then tapped another rune on the side of the Pensieve, ghostly figures appeared above it and began to play out the memory.

* * *

“Alright, John, you’re with me,” Laura told him once they had finished eating. “I know you and Rodney were going to work on that letter to the _Prophet_ , but I’m going to need you on this.”

John nodded silently and followed her out into the Entrance Hall. Carson was already waiting there when they arrived.

“Hey, love,” he greeted Laura.

“Hey yourself,” she replied, giving him a peck on the cheek.

The double doors leading from the Great Hall opened again, admitting Radek Zelenka.

“Good, we’re all here,” Laura stated. “This could turn into spells cast, so I’ll get straight to the point: we may have a rogue prefect. Actually, scratch that: we may have _multiple_ rogue prefects.”

Radek sighed, pressing two fingers to his temple. “Musíš si dělat zasraně srandu,” he muttered in his native Czech.

“What do you mean, ‘rogue prefects’?” John asked.

“Cam called a meeting of the Gryffindor prefects yesterday to discuss paying the Slytherins out for Elizabeth allegedly trying to kill you,” Laura explained.

“But she didn’t try to kill me,” John pointed out. “Caldwell tried to kill us both.”

“I tried to tell them that,” Laura responded, “and Evan and I both tried to tell them this was a bad idea, but apparently they’ve gone and done it anyway. Evan and I were the only Gryffindor prefects at lunch, and I didn’t see Aiden, either.”

“What sort of revenge were they planning?” Carson asked.

“Disillusion themselves and lay an ambush in a corridor,” Laura replied.

“Disillusionment,” Radek spat the word out as if it were a curse. “To je lepší a lepší. Carter’s idea, had to be.”

“Which corridor?” John asked.

“I don’t know,” Laura told them. “Once Evan and I said we wanted no part of it, they kicked us out of the meeting.”

Carson sighed, running his hands through his hair in frustration. “As if it couldnae get any worse, we have to search the whole castle?”

“Slytherin’s in the dungeons, so it’s more likely they’ll be set up on one of the lower floors,” Laura reasoned. “We start from ground level and work our way up. Cast _Revelio_ down every corridor.”

“Just in case they changed their plan of attack, we should also check inside any rooms that open onto the corridors,” Radek noted.

“Alright, let’s get moving,” Laura suggested. “We have to find them before they can spring their ambush, or we could wind up with a bloodbath on our hands.”

“Is it really necessary that I be included in this?” Carson asked. “Ye know I don’ like having to duel.”

“Look, this whole situation has gotten completely out of hand, and I don’t know that I can trust any of the others,” Laura countered. “The Slytherin prefects are liable to _try_ to pick a fight with them, and most of the others think Elizabeth’s gone Dark!”

“What about Teyla?” Carson protested.

“Testifying before the Board of Governors to try to get Elizabeth’s expulsion overturned,” Laura shot back tersely.

“Look, not that I want this to happen, but Pomfrey doesn’t want me doing any magic for the rest of the day,” John reminded her.

“I’m well aware of that. Once we find them, we’ll need you to talk them down,” Laura explained. “They won’t believe she didn’t attack you unless you’re the one to tell them. Come on, let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not speak Czech. If any of Zelenka's lines in that language are mistranslated, please leave a comment telling me how to correct them so I can do so.


	9. Chapter 9

John’s memory ended, and the ghostly figures faded back into the Pensieve.

“Auror O’Neill, previous witnesses have testified that there were no detectable signs that Mister Sheppard had been subject to mental manipulation,” Snape stated. “Of the known methods of mental manipulation, how many leave no lingering effects that remain detectable even after the manipulation is no longer taking place?”

Dumbledore stood. “Objection; question is ambiguous as to the amount of time between the manipulation being stopped and the subject being examined.”

Snape nodded. “I’ll rephrase. How many of the known methods of mental manipulation leave no lingering effects that remain detectable twenty minutes after the manipulation is stopped?”

“One,” O’Neill answered.

“And which method is that?” Snape asked.

“The Imperius Curse.”

Several of the governors gasped in shock. Malfoy drew his wand and fired a Cannonblast Charm. “Order!”

Once the room quieted, Snape continued, “Auror O’Neill, was Mister Sheppard’s behavior as observed in that memory consistent with the behavior of a person under the Imperius Curse?”

Again Dumbledore came to his feet. “Objection; calls for a conclusion.”

“A conclusion that an Auror is more than qualified to draw, Mister Chairman,” Snape argued.

“A fully trained Auror, perhaps, but this witness is a mere apprentice,” Dumbledore countered.

“Overruled,” Malfoy declared. “The witness will answer.”

“No,” O’Neill said. “Mister Sheppard’s behavior was not consistent with that of an Imperius victim.”

“Was Mister Sheppard’s behavior as observed in that memory consistent with the behavior of a person under the influence of any other known form of mental manipulation?”

O’Neill shook his head. “No.”

Snape nodded. “Your witness, Headmaster.”

Dumbledore stood. “Auror Apprentice O’Neill, you were Sorted into Slytherin during your time at Hogwarts, were you not?”

Snape now also rose. “Objection; relevance.”

“Goes to credibility, Mister Chairman,” Dumbledore responded.

Snape turned to look at Dumbledore in shock. “Mister Chairman, the appellant takes offense at counsel’s suggestion that an Auror would allow old House loyalties to bias an investigation.”

“I agree,” Malfoy said. “Sustained.”

Dumbledore sighed. “Auror Apprentice O’Neill, isn’t it true that you knew Miss Weir personally during your time at Hogwarts?”

Again Snape was on his feet. “Same objection, Mister Chairman.”

“Sustained,” Malfoy ruled. “ _Move on_ , Headmaster.”

“Auror Apprentice, you were not the lead investigator on this case, is that correct?” Dumbledore asked.

“It is,” O’Neill replied.

“The lead investigator was Senior Auror George Sinclair Hammond, is that also correct?”

“It is.”

“So isn’t it possible, Auror Apprentice, that there is additional pertinent information in this case of which Senior Auror Hammond did not inform you?”

Snape stood. “Objection; calls for speculation.”

“Overruled,” Malfoy declared.

“It is possible,” O’Neill conceded.

“Auror O’Neill, in your prior testimony, you stated that of the methods of mental manipulation known to the Ministry of Magic, the Imperius Curse is the only one that leaves no residual effects that continue to be detectable twenty minutes after the manipulation is stopped,” Dumbledore recalled.

“That’s correct,” O’Neill confirmed.

“Isn’t it possible, then, that there could exist another method that leaves no detectable residual effects after twenty minutes but is not known to the Ministry?”

“Yes, I suppose that’s possible,” O’Neill admitted.

“Specifically, Auror O’Neill, most of the Ancient Houses maintain a family grimoire containing spells, potions, rituals, et cetera, et cetera, that are known only to members of that House, isn’t that correct?”

O’Neill nodded. “It is.”

“And the contents of those grimoires are not known to the Ministry, is that also correct?”

“Yes.”

“ _And_ Miss Weir is a member of an Ancient House, is she not?”

O’Neill sighed. “She is.”

“So isn’t it possible, Auror O’Neill, that the Weir family grimoire contains a method of mental manipulation that is unknown to the Ministry and that leaves no detectable effects twenty minutes after the manipulation has ceased?”

Snape shot to his feet. “Objection; assumes facts not in evidence.”

Malfoy looked at him in confusion. “What fact is that?”

“That the Ancient House of Weir maintains a family grimoire,” Snape replied. “The fact that it is common practice among the Ancient Houses does not necessarily mean that every such House does so.”

Malfoy raised one eyebrow. “Have you any proof that the House of Weir does not?”

“No, Mister Chairman,” Snape admitted.

“Then your objection is overruled,” Malfoy declared. “The witness will answer.”

“It is possible,” O’Neill said.

Dumbledore nodded to himself before continuing with the cross-examination. “In the memory shown for the inquiry, Professor Caldwell was seen to speak with an unnaturally deep voice. Isn’t it true, Auror O’Neill, that unnaturally deep voices are often an indicator that a memory has been tampered with?”

Snape stood again. “Objection; Auror O’Neill is not an expert witness on this subject.”

“Mister Chairman, Auror O’Neill previously testified that memory evidence is used in Auror investigations on a regular basis,” Dumbledore reminded him.

“That does not mean that the Aurors are the ones responsible for verifying the authenticity of the memories,” Snape pointed out.

“Well, seeing as it’s unlikely we’ll be able to get an unspeakable to testify on this matter, we’ll have to settle for the next best thing,” Malfoy responded. “I’ll allow it.”

“Then I would like my continuing objection to this line of questioning noted in the record,” Snape requested.

 “So noted,” Malfoy acknowledged. Turning to O’Neill, he instructed, “You may answer the question.”

“Unnaturally deep voices in a memory often indicate tampering, that’s correct,” O’Neill stated.

“And isn’t it also true that Veritaserum cannot force a subject to provide the absolute truth, only the truth to the best of the subject’s knowledge?” Dumbledore continued.

“Also correct.”

“So isn’t it possible that if Mister Sheppard’s memory had been modified by someone other than himself, the Veritaserum could have compelled him to provide the modified memory, rather than the original memory that was suppressed by the modifications?”

O’Neill sighed. “Yes, it is possible.”

“Nothing further,” Dumbledore said.

As Dumbledore sat back down, Snape stood once more. “Redirect, Mister Chairman?”

Malfoy nodded. “Go ahead.”

“Generally speaking, is it legal to perform mental manipulation on another witch or wizard?” Snape asked.

“Only under extremely limited circumstances,” O’Neill answered.

“And what are those circumstances?”

“Certain types of minor mental manipulations are permitted to be used by qualified mind healers in the course of providing treatment,” O’Neill explained. “They would, of course, be required to obtain the patient’s consent before doing so.”

“Is there any circumstance where it would be legal to mentally manipulate another witch or wizard without their consent?”

“If a Hogwarts student is expelled without having passed their OWL examinations, they are obliviated of all knowledge of the magical world in order to preserve the Statute of Secrecy.”

“I see,” Snape said, his expression neutral. “Just to clarify, Auror O’Neill, who would perform those obliviations?”

“A Ministry Obliviator,” O’Neill replied.

“Would it be legal for someone other than a Ministry Obliviator to carry out the obliviations of an expelled Hogwarts student?”

“Only if there were an imminent threat that the student would breach the Statute of Secrecy before a Ministry Obliviator could arrive to carry out the task.”

“Is there any other circumstance under which it is legal to perform mental manipulation on a witch or wizard other than oneself, with or without their consent?”

O’Neill shook his head. “No.”

“And are family grimoires permitted to contain illegal magic?”

O’Neill shook his head again. “No.”

Snape nodded. “Auror O’Neill, was the Auror investigation into this matter able to determine the reason Professor Caldwell’s voice sounded unnaturally deep when Mister Sheppard’s memory was viewed?”

“Yes.”

“And what was that reason?”

“His voice actually was that deep,” O’Neill replied.

Snape frowned. “How is that possible?”

“He was possessed by a Dark creature.”

Again the governors began to murmur to themselves, and Malfoy fired a Cannonblast Charm to get the hearing back under control.

“What sort of Dark creature?” Snape continued.

Dumbledore stood. “Objection; Auror Apprentice O’Neill is not a Dark creature expert.”

“All of this information is in the case report, Mister Chairman,” Snape noted.

“Then if there are any portions of the report that you wish to specifically call to this inquiry’s attention, you may read them aloud,” Malfoy told him. “The objection is sustained.”

“Auror O’Neill, why was the voice not unnaturally deep throughout the memory?” Snape asked.

“The creature that possessed him has the ability to mimic its victim’s voice as a means of deception,” O’Neill explained.

Snape nodded. “Thank you, Auror O’Neill. Nothing further.”

Dumbledore stood. “Recross, Mister Chairman?”

Malfoy sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Very well.”

“Auror O’Neill, if the contents of family grimoires are not known to the Ministry, how is it possible to enforce the prohibition on them containing illegal magic?”

“If a member of a House having a grimoire is caught performing illegal magic, and the Aurors are unable to identify the specific spell, or potion, or what have you, that was used, the lead investigator can petition the Wizengamot to issue a warrant for the seizure of the family grimoire,” O’Neill explained. “If the petition is granted, the Aurors can then examine the grimoire’s contents attempting to determine the specific illegal magic used, and in the process of doing so, may remove from the grimoire any and all illegal magic or references thereto.”

“So, in practice, unless a member of the House gets caught in the act, the prohibition on family grimoires containing illegal magic is unenforceable, isn’t that right?”

Snape came to his feet. “Objection; argumentative.”

“Withdrawn,” Dumbledore said. “Nothing further.”

* * *

“Okay, I think that covers it for the first floor,” Laura declared.

“Merlinova varlata,” Radek muttered. “They put Communication Charms on the prefect badges. Would it have been that hard to put Tracking Charms as well?”

Laura raised one eyebrow. She then brought the tip of her wand up to her prefect badge. “Mitchell, what’s your position?”

“You don’t honestly think he’ll fall for that, do you?” John asked.

“It’s worth a shot,” Laura replied. Again she placed her wand tip against the badge. “Mitchell, Carter, this is Cadman. Please respond.”

When there was no answer after a moment, Carson said, “On to the next floor, I guess.”

* * *

“Call your next witness, Professor,” Malfoy instructed.

“The appellant calls Assistant Curse-Breaker Daniel Nicholas Jackson.”

The doors at the back of the room opened once more. Jackson entered the room, strode to the witness chair, and was sworn in.

“What is your area of expertise within the field of curse-breaking?” Snape asked.

“Ancient Egyptian ruins,” Jackson replied.

“Curse-Breaker Jackson, I am now going to read to you an excerpt from the Auror casefile on the investigation into Professor Caldwell’s death,” Snape told him. “I quote, ‘a second autopsy of the deceased revealed that a mass of tissue identified as a brain tumor during the first autopsy was, in actuality, a Dark creature that had taken control of the deceased’s higher brain functions in order to use his body for its own purposes. Creature is approximately twelve inches in length and vaguely serpentine in form.’ End of quote.”

Jackson nodded silently.

“In your work, Curse-Breaker Jackson,” Snape continued, “have you ever encountered any writings concerning a creature matching that description?”

“I have.”

“Mister Chairman, at this time, I would now like to enter into evidence as appellant’s exhibit C an English translation of the writings in question,” Snape informed Malfoy, floating another stack of parchment up to the governors’ table.

Malfoy nodded. “Proceed.”

“Curse-Breaker Jackson, would you please summarize for the inquiry the contents of these writings?” Snape requested.

“They detail the Ancient Egyptians’ attempts to eradicate the creatures, which they refer to as Goa’uld,” Jackson responded. “It goes on to explain that these Goa’uld take control of the bodies of human hosts by burrowing through the back of the neck into the brain.”

“According to these writings, is it possible to remove the…Goa’uld…from the body of the person it is possessing?” Snape asked, stumbling over the creatures’ name.

Jackson shook his head. “Not without killing the host.”

“Did the writings mention any outward signs that would allow one to identify a victim of possession by these creatures?”

“The host’s eyes glow briefly when the Goa’uld first establishes control of the host body, and also when the Goa’uld is experiencing strong emotion,” Jackson stated. “The Goa’uld also usually speaks in a voice much deeper than what the host body would normally be capable of producing, although they are capable of imitating the host’s normal voice.”

“Any other signs?”

“Yes,” Jackson confirmed. “A muggle possessed by a Goa’uld gains the ability to perform magic, and when a witch or wizard is possessed by a Goa’uld, the Goa’uld’s magic amplifies that of the host, resulting in significantly increased magical power and stamina as compared to the host’s capabilities alone.”

Snape turned to Dumbledore. “Your witness.”

Dumbledore stood. “Assistant Curse-Breaker Jackson, you only just graduated Hogwarts last year, is that correct?”

Jackson nodded. “That’s right.”

“So isn’t it possible that, due to your relative inexperience in this field, you could have misinterpreted the contents of these writings?”

Jackson raised one eyebrow. “Unlikely.”

“Is it, or are you just overconfident in your own abilities?” Dumbledore pressed.

Snape rose. “Objection; badgering the witness.”

“Sustained,” Malfoy ruled.

“Assistant Curse-Breaker Jackson, on a scale from one to ten, ten being absolute certainty, how confident are you that these writings were translated accurately?”

“A seven,” he answered.

Dumbledore looked at him in surprise. “Only a seven?”

Snape stood once more. “Objection; asked and answered.”

“I’ll rephrase,” Dumbledore said. “Why only a seven? Why not higher?”

“Because, with the exception of a few incantations used in rituals dating from the Third and Fourth Dynasties, Old Egyptian hasn’t been spoken in close to four thousand years,” Jackson explained.

“Then it _is_ possible you could have misinterpreted the contents of these writings, isn’t it?” Dumbledore crowed.

“We’re certain of the main ideas being expressed,” Jackson responded. “It’s certainly possible that a particular turn of phrase could mean something slightly different from how it’s been expressed in this translation, but that’s not going to significantly alter the overall meaning of the text as a whole.”

“Curse-Breaker Jackson, in your work, have you ever encountered any writings more recent than these ones that mention either the Goa’uld by name, a creature matching their description, or a person showing signs of Goa’uld possession?” Dumbledore asked.

“Not that I’ve encountered,” Jackson admitted.

Dumbledore turned to Malfoy. “Nothing further.”

Snape stood. “Redirect, Mister Chairman?”

Malfoy nodded. “Proceed.”

“Assistant Curse-Breaker, is it possible that such writings do exist, and you have simply not encountered them?” Snape asked.

Now Dumbledore also stood. “Objection; calls for speculation.”

“Overruled,” Malfoy declared.

“It’s certainly possible,” Jackson confirmed. “After all, I’ve only been at this for about a year.”

Dumbledore stood once more. “Objection and move to strike; nothing pending.”

“Sustained,” Malfoy ruled. “The governors will disregard the portion of the witness’ statement beginning with ‘after all.’”

“Nothing further,” Snape stated.

Malfoy nodded. “Curse-Breaker Jackson, you may step down.”

After Jackson left the room, Snape stood and announced, “The appellant rests, Mister Chairman.”

“Very well,” Malfoy said. “Headmaster, the School may begin its case.”

Dumbledore stood. “Thank you, Mister Chairman. The School calls Mister Evan Thomas Lorne, a sixth-year student in Gryffindor House.”

Evan entered and was sworn in.

“Mister Lorne, what is your relationship with Mister Sheppard?” Dumbledore asked.

“We both play on the Gryffindor quidditch team,” Evan replied.

“How long have you been teammates?”

“Three years.”

“And, on average, how many hours a week does the quidditch team practice?”

Evan thought for a moment. “Four or five.”

“So would it be fair to say, Mister Lorne, that you and Mister Sheppard have gotten to know each other quite well over the years?”

Snape stood. “Objection; leading the witness.”

“Withdrawn,” Dumbledore said. After a brief pause, he continued, “Mister Lorne, based on your knowledge of Mister Sheppard’s personality, do you believe he would duel to kill if he found himself in a real-world duel situation?”

Again Snape was on his feet. “Objection; calls for speculation.”

Malfoy nodded. “Sustained.”

“To your knowledge, Mister Lorne, has Mister Sheppard ever been involved in a duel that did not take place in a controlled environment?”

Snape stood once more. “Objection; this witness cannot reasonably be expected to know that information.”

“Sidebar, Mister Chairman?” Dumbledore requested.

Malfoy sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Very well.”

When the two advocates reached the governors’ table, Dumbledore explained, “Mister Chairman, this witness was present for one such incident.”

“Which does not mean he would have any knowledge of any other such incidents that may have occurred,” Snape countered.

“I agree,” Malfoy said. “Headmaster, if you can formulate a question about that specific incident, you may ask it, but the witness is not qualified to answer to a generality. And I warn you, Headmaster, that if you persist in asking improper questions, I will ask the governors whether anyone wishes to introduce a censure motion.”

“While we’re here, Mister Chairman, I would like to object to the introduction of the specific incident to which the headmaster refers on grounds of relevance,” Snape informed him.

“The incident goes to show that Mister Sheppard’s behavior in the present incident was inconsistent with his prior behavior in similar incidents,” Dumbledore argued.

“The circumstances of the prior incident are sufficiently different from the circumstances of the present incident to make such a comparison invalid,” Snape countered.

Malfoy turned to look at Dumbledore. “Give me a one-sentence summary of the prior incident.”

“Mister Sheppard cast a series of non-lethal spells on another student in response to verbal taunting by that student,” Dumbledore replied.

“What spells did the other student cast in response?” Malfoy asked.

“The other student was disarmed and stunned without casting a spell,” Dumbledore informed him.

Malfoy raised an eyebrow at him. “So the other student did not cast any spells in the course of the entire incident, is that what I’m hearing?”

Dumbledore nodded. “That’s correct, Mister Chairman.”

“Then that incident, Headmaster, would be properly characterized as a schoolyard hexing, not a duel, which is what the present incident was,” Malfoy stated. “The two types of incident have completely different standards for what spells are fair game.”

“Mister Chairman, the distinction you make is a question of fact,” Dumbledore protested. “It’s not for you alone to decide.”

“Did the other student have reason to expect Mister Sheppard would draw his wand?” Malfoy asked.

“The incident occurred during the war,” Dumbledore said as if that was answer enough. “Mister Chairman, this incident concerns Mister Sheppard alone, not Miss Weir. The prejudicial value is minimal.”

“But the probative value is even less,” Malfoy ruled.

“Mister Chairman—”

“The prior incident is out,” Malfoy said firmly. “Step back.”

When Dumbledore and Snape had returned to their tables, Malfoy declared, “The objection is sustained.”

Dumbledore huffed in annoyance. “Mister Lorne, what is the relationship between Mister Sheppard and Miss Weir?”

“They’re dating,” Evan replied.

“We previously heard testimony that Mister Sheppard and Miss Weir are both practitioners of the Mind Arts,” Dumbledore said. “What sort of effect could that have on their relationship?”

Snape stood. “Objection; calls for speculation.”

“Sustained,” Malfoy ruled.

Dumbledore sighed. “No further questions.”

Snape stood. “I have no questions for this witness, Mister Chairman.”

“Mister Lorne, you may step down,” Malfoy informed him.

Once Lorne departed, Malfoy instructed, “Call your next witness, Headmaster.”

“The School will now exercise its previously reserved right to recall Miss Emmagan,” Dumbledore announced.

Teyla once again entered the makeshift courtroom and sat down in the witness chair.

“I remind you that you are still under oath,” Malfoy told her.

“Miss Emmagan, you testified earlier that Mister Sheppard and Miss Weir are both practitioners of the Mind Arts,” Dumbledore recounted. “We also heard testimony from Mister Lorne that Mister Sheppard and Miss Weir are romantically involved. What sort of effect could their both being practitioners of the Mind Arts have on their romantic relationship?”

“I’m not entirely certain what you mean by that,” Teyla replied.

Dumbledore turned to Malfoy. “Permission to treat as hostile?”

Malfoy nodded. “Granted.”

“Miss Emmagan, isn’t it somewhat common when romantic partners are both skilled in the Mind Arts for the two of them to occasionally use their skill in the Mind Arts to communicate directly mind-to-mind with each other?”

“‘Somewhat common’ is not exactly the descriptor I would use,” Teyla responded. “It’s definitely the exception rather than the rule, and while it’s not unheard of between husband and wife, the technique’s use by non-married couples is very rare.”

“But it does happen, isn’t that right?”

“There are documented instances of the technique being used by non-married couples.”

“Now, wait a minute. Isn’t direct mind-to-mind contact like what you’re describing here exactly the sort of thing Occlumency is intended to defend against?” Dumbledore asked.

“The technique requires the two partners to establish a semi-permanent conduit between their minds that bypasses their Occlumency shields, hence—”

“Thank you, Miss Emmagan,” Dumbledore interrupted. “Nothing further.”

Snape stood. “Please, finish what you were about to say.”

“The requirement that the partners establish the conduit I was speaking of is the main reason so few couples, and even fewer non-married couples, choose to use this technique,” Teyla explained. “It creates a weak point in the practitioners’ Occlumency shields that a Legilimency attack can exploit.”

“Since Mister Sheppard began dating Miss Weir, have you attempted to penetrate his Occlumency shields?”

“I have.”

“In those attempts, have you ever observed a weak point in his shields that would be consistent with him having established the sort of conduit you’re describing?” Snape asked.

Dumbledore stood. “Objection; calls for a conclusion.”

“The witness’ answers to the prior questions about this technique have demonstrated sufficient knowledge that it would be reasonable to believe she would recognize it if she saw it being used,” Malfoy responded. “I’ll allow it.”

“Then I would like to have a continuing objection noted in the record,” Dumbledore said.

Malfoy nodded. “So noted.”

“No, I have not observed such a weakness,” Teyla answered.

“Have you also examined Miss Weir’s shields since she began dating Mister Sheppard?”

“I have.”

“And did you observe such a weakness in her shields?”

Teyla shook her head. “No.”

“With that in mind, Miss Emmagan, do you believe Mister Sheppard and Miss Weir are employing the technique you have described for the inquiry?”

Teyla shook her head once more. “I do not.”

Snape nodded. “No further questions.”

* * *

“Clear,” Carson announced, stepping out of the abandoned classroom he had been checking.

“Two down, five to go,” Laura muttered. “I’m surprised we haven’t found them yet. You wouldn’t think many Slytherins would be venturing up to the upper floors what with classes being over.”

“I don’t suppose any of you have any scrying equipment?” John asked.

Radek shook his head. “It would take too long to set up. A floor-by-floor search will be faster.”

John threw up his hands defensively. “It was just a suggestion.”

“Come on, let’s keep moving,” Laura instructed. “No time for chitchat.”

* * *

Dumbledore stood. “Mister Chairman, am I correct in understanding that the records from the original expulsion proceedings are already part of the evidence before this inquiry?”

“That is correct,” Malfoy confirmed.

“Then the School rests, Mister Chairman,” Dumbledore announced.

“Very well. Are you both prepared to proceed with closing arguments?” Malfoy asked.

“Yes, Mister Chairman,” Dumbledore replied.

“I am, Mister Chairman,” Snape agreed.

Malfoy nodded. “Very well. The School may present its closing.”

Dumbledore stood again. “Thank you, Mister Chairman. Members of the Board: Hogwarts is the finest wizarding school in the world. In order to preserve that reputation, we must also hold our students to the highest standard of discipline. As you heard Auror O’Neill testify, Miss Weir’s actions—using the Dark Arts to manipulate Mister Sheppard’s mental state—constitute a crime. We cannot allow criminals to continue to attend our school and corrupt our young people. For that reason, Miss Weir’s crimes cannot be met with anything less than the harshest punishment this body can impose. Only when Miss Weir has been permanently removed from the castle will the future of our society be safe from her malicious influence.”

After Dumbledore sat back down, Malfoy said, “Your closing, Professor Snape.”

Snape stood. “Thank you, Mister Chairman. Members of the Board, the School has just argued that the crimes Miss Weir is accused of committing are expulsion-level offenses, while glossing over the question of whether she actually committed the crimes of which she is accused. This Board, in choosing to grant rehearing, rather than review, of Miss Weir’s expulsion, has already decided that it is not willing to take that fact for granted as the School has just asked it to do. The School accuses Miss Weir of illegally manipulating Mister Sheppard’s mental state. This can be broken down into two separate assertions: firstly, that Mister Sheppard was, in fact, the victim of mental manipulation; and secondly, that it was Miss Weir who performed the alleged manipulation. I submit that the School has proven neither of these assertions.

“Addressing first the assertion that Mister Sheppard was, in fact, the victim of mental manipulation, the School presents as evidence in support of that assertion the fact that Mister Sheppard used lethal force in his engagement with Professor Caldwell. The reasons why one might choose to employ lethal force are too many to list, which should indicate rather clearly that that fact in itself is insufficient to prove that mental manipulation was visited upon Mister Sheppard. Furthermore, you have heard testimony from a trained healer that Mister Sheppard showed no signs of his mental state having been manipulated; you have heard testimony from a skilled Legilimens that Mister Sheppard’s Occlumency shields had not been breached; and you have heard testimony from an Auror that Mister Sheppard’s behavior during the incident in question was inconsistent with that of a victim of mental manipulation. All of that evidence would tend to indicate that Mister Sheppard’s mental state has _not_ been manipulated.

“However, even if you accept the School’s assertion that mental manipulation has been visited upon Mister Sheppard, that alone is not enough to justify imposing discipline against Miss Weir. For that, you must also accept the assertion that it was Miss Weir who performed the alleged manipulation, an assertion for which the School has offered no supporting evidence whatsoever. Members of the Board, School’s counsel asks you to _take him at his word_ that it was Miss Weir who performed the alleged mental manipulation on Mister Sheppard, despite there being no evidence that Mister Sheppard’s mental state was manipulated _at all_ , let alone by Miss Weir.

“Miss Weir’s only ‘crime’ is being the subject of a false accusation, which is no crime at all. Were that to be deemed sufficient grounds to see her expelled even in the face of overwhelming evidence that the accusation against her is indeed false, it would make a mockery of our entire disciplinary process, and, by extension, of Hogwarts itself.”

There was a brief silence after Snape sat back down.

“At this time, the governors will withdraw to conduct deliberations,” Malfoy announced. “An elf will be sent to notify counsel for both sides when a verdict has been reached. This inquiry is in recess.”

* * *

Cam couldn’t help but grin when he saw the next group that turned into the fourth-floor corridor. _Kenmore’s gang._

Placing his wand against his Gryffindor crest, he whispered, “Look alive, people. This is our target.”

“I take back what I said earlier,” Bates whispered back. “This was worth the wait.”

“Cut the chatter, Bates,” Cam ordered. To the group as a whole, he instructed, “Fire when they get to the mark. Do not wait for my signal.”

A few seconds later, six stunners set off toward their targets.


	10. Chapter 10

Dumbledore was barely halfway back to his office when an elf appeared in front of him.

“The guvvy-nurs being ready now,” the elf told him, _popping_ away before Dumbledore could formulate a response.

Snape was already seated at his table by the time Dumbledore returned to the hearing room. O’Neill, Jackson, and Teyla, now that they were no longer needed as witnesses, were seated in the spectators’ area behind Snape.

Once Dumbledore was seated at his own table, Malfoy ordered, “Appellant’s counsel will rise.”

With Snape now standing, Malfoy announced, “It is the finding of this inquiry that the School’s stated grounds for expelling Miss Weir are invalid for the reason that she did not commit the offense of which she is accused. It is therefore the decision of this inquiry that Miss Weir’s expulsion be cancelled and expunged from her disciplinary record.”

Teyla closed her eyes and exhaled slowly in relief.

Malfoy wasn’t done, though. “It is further the decision of this inquiry to issue an injunction against the School prohibiting the imposition of any other form of discipline against Miss Weir in relation to this incident and ordering that any such discipline already imposed be cancelled and expunged from her disciplinary record.”

Malfoy paused briefly before continuing, “The governors are thanked for their attendance at this emergency meeting. We stand adjourned.”

As the governors, Dumbledore, and Snape began gathering up their things, Teyla turned to O’Neill and Jackson. “I thank both of you for taking the time out of your lives to come here and testify in Elizabeth’s defense.”

“Well, as the old goat tried to bring up during my cross, I was a Slytherin while I was here,” O’Neill explained as the three of them stood and exited the hearing room. “We have to look out for each other since so few others will, the two of you being notable exceptions.”

“So sentimental,” Jackson replied teasingly. “I thought Slytherin was supposed to be the House of people who would throw their own mother under the Knight Bus if it suited their purposes.”

“Well, I also thought testifying here would be good practice for when I finish my Auror training and I’ll have to testify before the Wizengamot to get people put away,” O’Neill deadpanned.

“Aha! I knew you must have had an ulterior motive for agreeing to this!” Jackson crowed, a grin taking the sting out of his words.

“What about you?” O’Neill teased back.

“Well, at the time I got called in, I didn’t know Elizabeth was involved,” Jackson responded. “All I’d been told was that St. Mungo’s had recently autopsied a wizard with a Dark creature in the back of his head that matched the description on a papyrus we recovered from Abusir about six months ago.”

“When did you find out Elizabeth was involved?” Teyla asked.

“I got an owl from Professor Snape about 10:30 this morning asking me to discuss what had happened to Professor Caldwell, and would I please bring a translation of the papyrus I got the information from,” Jackson told her. “It wasn’t until I got here that he explained why he needed me.”

“Well, I thank you both again,” Teyla replied.

Jackson nodded. “Now we just have to wait for her to wake up.”

* * *

As Kenmore and his three henchmen went down, the air where they had been standing rippled, and suddenly Cam felt a sensation like an egg being cracked over his head. He looked around in alarm and saw the rest of his Gryffindors winking back into existence as Revealing Charms from disillusioned henchmen slammed into them.

“It’s a counter-ambush!” he shouted. “Keep throwing stunners!”

“Cam, cover me!” Sam yelled over the din of spellfire.

“Sumner, Bates, hold fire!” Cam ordered. “Right flank, fire on my signal! Now!”

As Cam, Aiden, and Dusty began letting loose with stunners and Impediment Jinxes, Sam pulled a runestone from her pocket and set it on the floor. After tapping it with her wand to cancel the Shrinking Charm on it, she placed her wand against its surface and began charging it. A purple-tinted wave of magic radiated outward from the runestone, revealing six more of Kenmore’s gang that had previously been disillusioned.

“Nice work!” Cam told her.

“The bastards are reviving each other as soon as we put them down!” Dusty called out.

“Understood!” Cam shouted back. “Switch to Bone-Breakers!”

Sumner stepped out from behind his pillar and fired at the two closest Slytherins. As he was ducking back behind the pillar, a brilliant blue light shot from the end of a now-revived Kenmore’s wand and struck Sumner square in the shoulder. Immediately he fell to the ground, his body beginning to transform as if he had ingested a massive overdose of Aging Potion.

“Sumner!” Cam yelled.

“Bates, press up to the next pillar!” Sam ordered. “I’ll cover you!”

“Ford, get Sumner down to Pomfrey, then make a break for Gryffindor Tower and bring back reinforcements!” Cam shouted.

“I’ll need some cover to get him out!” Aiden replied.

“You’ll get it!” Cam assured him. “Use the Communication Charm to let me know when the reinforcements are about to arrive so we can lay down some cover fire for them!”

“Dusty, as soon as Aiden’s clear, move up to take his place!” Sam instructed.

At some unseen signal, Sam and Cam both began spraying Bone-Breakers as fast as they could. “Go, go, go!” Cam shouted to Aiden.

Aiden raised his wand at the now-unconscious Sumner. “ _Mobilicorpus_!” he incanted, retreating down the corridor.

* * *

Laura, Carson, Radek, and John had just come up the Grand Staircase to the third floor when they encountered Aiden on his way down, levitating Sumner behind him.

“What the hell?” Laura asked.

“Kenmore got him with a Withering Curse,” Aiden explained quickly.

“Where?”

“Fourth-floor corridor,” Aiden answered. “Come in from the north end, that’ll put you in the Slytherins’ rear.”

Aiden charged past them and continued down the stairs with Sumner in tow before any of the others could respond.

“Mitchell je zasraný idiot!” Radek declared emphatically.

“That’s putting it mildly,” John remarked.

“Alright, John, it sounds like the situation is too far gone for you to be able to talk them down,” Laura told him. “Get back to Gryffindor Tower so you don’t wind up back in the Hospital Wing again.”

John nodded. “Got it.”

* * *

Head Girl Sarah Gardner was curled up in an armchair beneath one of the Ravenclaw common room’s many windows when she heard a voice emanating from her Head Girl badge. _“This is Cadman. Major incident in the fourth-floor corridor. At least one student already down. I have Beckett and Zelenka with me. Do we go in or wait for backup?”_

Sarah quickly drew her wand and placed it against her badge. “How ‘major’ are we talking here?”

_“Kenmore’s involved,”_ Laura responded. _“Don’t know how many of his goons he has with him.”_

“Of course it had to be bloody Kenmore,” Sarah grumbled, pressing a clenched fist to her forehead. Placing her wand tip against her Head Girl badge once more, she asked, “Mitchell, you hearing this?”

_“Little busy right now,”_ his voice came through in a harried tone.

Sarah was momentarily taken aback. “Wha—? Mitchell, are you already on scene? How many people involved?”

_“At least a dozen all told,”_ came the reply.

“Bloody hell,” Sarah muttered. “Cadman, what’s your current position?”

_“Grand Staircase, third-floor landing.”_

“Alright, hold there until I arrive,” Sarah instructed. “We’ll need numbers for this one.”

Laura’s voice dropped in tone as she said, _“Sarah, I think Mitchell may be involved in this incident.”_

Sarah groaned. “Merlin’s beard. As if this couldn’t get any worse.”

_“Sorry,”_ Laura said sheepishly.

“Not your fault, Cadman,” Sarah assured her. “What makes you think he’s involved?”

_“A lot of the Gryffindors have got it in their head that Weir was trying to kill Sheppard and Professor Caldwell got caught in the crossfire trying to stop her,”_ Laura explained. _“Mitchell called a meeting of the Gryffindor prefects yesterday to talk about revenge. Lorne and I told him we wanted no part of it and tried to talk him down, but apparently he didn’t want to hear it.”_

Sarah placed a hand on her forehead in a futile attempt to quell the oncoming migraine. “Oh, for Morgana’s sake. You’re telling me Carter, Bates, and Mehra are involved, too?”

_“I’d say it’s likely.”_

* * *

When he heard the voices coming from Teyla’s prefect badge, Jackson immediately took off down the corridor, Teyla and O’Neill following after him. He eventually stopped in front of Professor Babbling’s office and rapped on the door.

_“Come in,”_ Babbling called.

Jackson threw open the door and entered the office.

“Daniel,” Babbling greeted him with a smile.

“Sorry, no time to catch up,” Jackson told her quickly. “I need to borrow a runestone.”

“What do you need?” Babbling asked.

“Area stunner, preferably with a short time delay,” Jackson replied.

Babbling reached up and grabbed a runestone off one of the shelves. “How’s ten seconds?”

“I can work with that,” Jackson said, accepting the runestone from her and tucking it under his arm.

Teyla placed her wand tip against her prefect badge. “Laura, please confirm fourth-floor corridor.”

_“Confirmed. Gardner says muster at third-floor Grand Staircase landing, and we move in all at once.”_

“Understood,” Teyla replied. Removing her wand from her prefect badge, she asked Jackson, “Will Auror O’Neill be sufficient backup for you?”

“Yeah, this should put them all down pretty quick once the time delay goes off,” Jackson told her.

* * *

_“Reinforcements arriving in thirty seconds,”_ Aiden’s voice came from the crest on Cam’s robes.

“How many?” Cam asked.

_“About a dozen, all NEWT-level.”_

“Understood,” Cam replied. To the other three Gryffindors still on site, he shouted, “Alright, people, let’s get some cover down!”

As Cam, Dusty, and Bates opened fire on the Slytherins with renewed vigor, Sam pointed her wand at the ground, and a curved section of the stone floor about eight inches wide began to raise itself up into a wall that traversed the width of the corridor at a height of about two and a half feet.

“Nice one!” Cam shouted, stepping out from behind his pillar and diving behind the wall.

“Thanks!” Sam replied. She then reached into the pocket of her robes and withdrew another shrunken runestone, which she placed on top of the wall and tapped with her wand to restore it to full size.

Cam looked at her incredulously. “How many of those things do you _have_?”

Sam shrugged. “Half a dozen or so!”

Sam held her wand against the surface of the runestone and began to charge it. As she did so, a thin stream of light began to issue from the runestone, forming a purple-tinted shield about in line with the wall that stretched all the way to the ceiling.

“It’s a one-way shield ward!” Sam explained. “We can shoot through it at them, but their return fire will be stopped by the ward!”

“How long will it hold?” Cam asked.

“With this many attackers on the other side? Five minutes, maybe six if we’re lucky!” Sam responded.

_“Mitchell, are we clear to bring the reinforcements into the corridor?”_ Aiden asked.

“Go ahead, bring them in,” Cam ordered.

Fourteen witches and wizards in Gryffindor robes entered the corridor and began forming themselves up behind the wall Sam had created.

“Alright, people!” Cam called out to the newcomers. “We’ve got about five minutes before this ward comes down, so take out as many snakes as we can before that happens! Bone-Breakers to put them down, then stunners to keep them there!”

* * *

“All prefects not currently occupied, please report to the Grand Staircase, third-floor landing,” Sarah spoke into her Head Girl badge.

_Merlin’s beard,_ she thought to herself. _Four prefects involved in the incident, plus Weir still in the Hospital Wing._

Glancing around the common room, she made a decision. “McKay!”

Rodney looked up to see who had called for him. “What is it?”

“A fight’s broken out in the fourth-floor corridor,” Sarah told him. “I need extra wands to get it under control. Congratulations, you’re now a temporary prefect.”

McKay looked at her in disbelief. “Wha—what? I’m not cut out to be breaking up fights!”

“You scored high enough on your Defense OWL to qualify for the NEWT class, didn’t you?” Sarah reminded him, conjuring a prefect badge and throwing it at him. “Pin that on and follow me.”

* * *

Sam glanced down at the runestone sitting on top of the wall. “Dammit! This ward isn’t gonna hold for as long as I thought!”

“Let’s go, people! We need to be putting these snakes down faster!” Cam yelled.

Sam shook her head. “They’re reviving each other faster than we can put them down!”

She reached into her pocket and withdrew what appeared to be a purple-colored gobstone. With a tap of her wand, it grew to about the size of a snargaluff pod, allowing Cam to see that it was actually a glass container with a purple gas swirling inside.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“Aerosolized Sleeping Draught!” Sam replied. “As soon as I throw this, everyone who can cast a Bubblehead Charm needs to do so, and anyone who can’t needs to hightail it out of here!”

It took about thirty seconds for the instructions to be passed along to the rest of the Gryffindors. Once Sam was sure they all knew what was about to happen, she came up out of her crouch just far enough that her shoulders were above the wall and spiked the container into the floor on the other side, where it shattered upon impact.

* * *

As Jackson and O’Neill approached the fourth-floor corridor, they saw a thin purple mist floating in the air.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” O’Neill muttered.

“Is that what I think it is?” Jackson asked.

“Airborne potion,” O’Neill confirmed. “Probably some variation on a sleeping potion, judging from the color.”

Jackson and O’Neill both drew their wands and cast Bubblehead Charms on themselves.

“We need to warn the prefects what they’ll be walking into,” Jackson said.

O’Neill took the runestone from him. “Go. I’ll be right behind you once I set this.”

“Might want to disillusion yourself,” Jackson suggested. “Whichever side tossed that potion is probably the only one still standing. You’re liable to be noticed and fired on before you can charge the runestone.”

O’Neill nodded and twirled his wand around himself, disappearing from view. Satisfied that O’Neill would be more than capable of carrying out the task, Jackson turned and began worming his way back to the Grand Staircase. It took him about a minute to reach it and descend to the third floor, where he was greeted by fifteen prefects with their wands drawn. All save Laura and Paul Davis were Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws.

“Daniel,” Sarah said in surprise. “First of all, what are you doing here, and secondly, why the Bubblehead Charm?”

“You said that incident was in the fourth-floor corridor, right?” Daniel asked.

Sarah cringed. “Don’t tell me—”

Daniel nodded. “Airborne potion.”

Radek pressed a hand to his forehead. “Do prdele. More of Carter’s work, I am sure of it.”

Rodney nodded in agreement. “Yeah, she’s the only Gryffindor smart enough to even come up with the idea for something like that, much less actually be able to implement it.”

Just then, O’Neill came down the stairs shaking his head. “No joy.”

Jackson turned to look at him incredulously. “The runestone didn’t work?”

“Someone had deployed field wards,” O’Neill explained. “There was an anti-concealment ward over the whole corridor and a one-way shield ward about at the middle of the corridor.”

“Carter,” Radek spat.

Laura shook her head. “No, that doesn’t make sense. Their plan was to disillusion themselves. Why would she set up an anti-concealment ward?”

O’Neill squeezed his eyes shut in realization. “Dammit. Someone must’ve tipped the Slytherins off. They send a few of their people in as bait, the Gryffs spring their ambush, and then when they pop out of their hiding spots, they get hit by disillusioned Slytherin reinforcements.”

“I tried to tell Kenmore we were better off reporting the information to the professors, but he insisted that if the Gryffindors wanted a fight, he was damn well going to give it to them,” Paul confirmed.

Sarah raised a skeptical eyebrow. “And you think Carter knew the Slytherins had been tipped off and had a plan in place to counter it?”

“She probably didn’t know, but she would’ve planned for the possibility,” O’Neill replied. “Her dad served with my boss during the war until he got injured and had to retire, and let me tell you, Jacob Carter is quite possibly the most paranoid sonofabitch since Mad-Eye Moody.”

“And from what I’ve heard about him from Sam, he’d probably take that as a compliment,” Laura remarked.

Sarah exhaled slowly. “Okay, who does _not_ know how to cast a Bubblehead Charm?”

The two Hufflepuff fifth-year prefects put their hands up.

“Alright, the two of you come over here, I’ll cast it on you,” she told them. “The rest of you I trust can cast your own?”

Once everyone had a Bubblehead Charm in place, Sarah turned to O’Neill. “Would it be permissible if we handle this matter in-house?”

O’Neill nodded. “As long as no one gets killed, the Ministry sees no need to press charges in schoolyard fights. However, if it turns out that there was a fatality, I must insist you inform me so that an investigation can take place.”

Sarah looked at him oddly. “You think we’ll find a fatality?”

“I certainly hope not,” O’Neill responded.

“You’ll forgive me if I don’t find that very comforting,” Sarah shot back.

The group of prefects made their way up the Grand Staircase to the fourth floor and turned into the corridor with wands drawn, expecting to be walking into a war zone. Instead they found only the aftermath.

A two-and-a-half-foot-high stone wall traversed the corridor near its midpoint. On the other side of the wall, ten Slytherins lay unresponsive; some were still clutching their wands, while others had dropped them near where they had fallen. Their adversaries were nowhere to be seen.

“Revealing Charms, everyone!” Sarah ordered.

All of the gathered prefects cast simultaneously. To Sarah’s surprise, all of the spells impacted harmlessly against the corridor walls.

“Alright, where’d the little blighters go?” she asked rhetorically. “We didn’t stand around talking that long, did we?”

“Sarah, we’d better get these Slytherins down to Madam Pomfrey,” Carson told her. “Most of them have a few broken bones.”

 “I’ll let you supervise that,” Sarah replied. “How many others do you need?”

“Three should be plenty,” Carson responded.

Sarah nodded. “Davis, Weaver, Mills, you’re with Beckett. The rest of you, start working on ideas for dispersing this potion.”

“Blow it out the windows?” Peter Grodin suggested.

“I would, but we’re a little close to the owlery for my liking,” Sarah replied.

Jen Hailey’s mouth twisted in thought. “Vanishment?”

Sarah shook her head. “It’s too diffuse for that. We’d vanish the air right along with it. Good idea, though. Might’ve worked if we’d got here sooner.”

Radek’s brow furrowed. “We could try to reconcentrate it.”

“No, no, no, that’d never work,” Rodney said dismissively. “You’d be fighting entropy. Look, I’ve been casting some diagnostic charms. This stuff is just your basic Sleeping Draught. We aerosolize an Antidote to Common Poisons, release it into the corridor, and the two potions neutralize each other.”

Radek shook his head. “Even if we get already-brewed antidote from Professor Snape’s stores, how long does it take to aerosolize it?

“Use a spray bottle like the ones they use for doxycide,” Rodney shot back. “Look, put up some wards to keep this stuff contained. I’ll be right back with the antidote.”

Once Rodney was out of earshot, Radek huffed, “I hate it when he does that.”

* * *

“Madam Pomfrey, there’s been an incident in the fourth-floor corridor,” Carson told her. “Ten Slytherins have broken bones and have been dosed with Sleeping Draught. We’re working on getting them down here. I’ll be back with the rest in a moment.”

Pomfrey looked up to see Carson, Paul, Mark Weaver, and Angie Mills floating the bodies of five unconscious Slytherins in front of them. “Lay them out on the beds,” she instructed. “And Mister Beckett—is that Auror still in the castle?”

“Aye,” Carson responded.

“Tell him there’s been another suspicious death.”

Carson’s face fell. “Sumner?”

Pomfrey could only nod.


	11. Chapter 11

John was sitting in an armchair in the Gryffindor common room trying to ignore what appeared to be post-exam celebrations taking place on the other side of the room.

“Hey, John,” Sam called to him. “Butterbeer?”

“I’ll pass, thanks,” he replied.

“You’re sure you don’t want one?” Sam asked. “You know we did this for you, right?”

John’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Did what?”

Sam looked at him oddly. “Paid the Slytherins out for Weir trying to kill you.”

“What?” John asked incredulously. “No, no, no, you’ve got it all wrong. Professor Caldwell was possessed. He tried to kill both of us.”

Sam’s face took on an expression of dismay. “Shite. The little vixen must’ve modified your memories.”

“You know, I’m pretty sure the Aurors would’ve noticed if my memory had been tampered with when they viewed it,” John snarked.

“Common misconception,” Sam shot back. “A sufficiently skilled Legilimens can modify someone else’s memory without leaving any of the telltales normally used to detect tampering.”

John raised a skeptical eyebrow. “And you think a sixth-year has that level of skill?”

“Well, you have to remember, she’s a Slytherin from a pro-Death Eater family,” Sam pointed out.

John’s expression darkened. “Now, wait a minute—”

Sam waved him off. “Oh, don’t give me that codswallop about them being neutral. The Death Eaters were running an extortion racket. Anyone who claims they were neutral during the war was actually paying off the Death Eaters in exchange for not being attacked, and if you ask me, supporting them financially is just as bad as donning the robes and mask.”

“Well, if you know so much about this extortion ring, you also ought to know that the Death Eaters killed Elizabeth’s father for refusing to buy in!” John told her angrily.

Sam scoffed. “No, they didn’t. He died in a broom crash.”

“It was sabotage,” John countered.

Sam shook her head. “Not according to the inquest.”

John nearly laughed out loud. “Are you so naïve that you honestly think that inquest wasn’t rigged?”

“That’s not the Death Eaters’ style,” Sam shot back. “When they killed someone, they wanted to make sure everyone knew they were responsible.”

“Look, I have it on good authority that the Death Eaters were putting the squeeze on Benjamin Weir,” John told her.

“Even if he was offed—and I’m not conceding that he was, but if he was, there were never any other attacks on the Weir family or any of their holdings, so clearly his heir decided to pay up,” Sam responded.

“Elizabeth was _six_ when her father died,” John pointed out. “If anyone made that decision, and I’m not saying anyone did, but if someone had, it would’ve been her mother, not her.”

“Now who’s being naïve?” Sam asked. “I know you always like to look for the good in people, but there’s just no way to spin this one, John. She’s Death Eater spawn.”

Madam Pomfrey’s instruction not to use magic flew from John’s mind, and he had Sam under a Silencing Charm before she could react. “Carter, I don’t know how much your father has told you about wizarding society—from the way you’ve been shooting your mouth off, I suspect not much—so let me give you a little primer. Family and family honor are _everything_. An insult to the family honor requires an appropriate response, and for severe insults, that means the dueling square. Now, seeing as you’re only second-generation wizarding and might not have known that, I’m willing to let you off with a public apology and a stern warning that others would not have been so lenient.”

John raised his wand and canceled the Silencing Charm so that Sam could respond.

“This is ridiculous. I didn’t insult you,” Sam replied defiantly.

“When a witch and wizard are courting, an insult against one is an insult against both,” John explained.

Sam was clearly trying not to laugh. “This is unbelievable. Have you been listening to me at all, John? This bitch has been twisting your mind with Dark magic, and still you defend her?”

On hearing Sam’s remarks, Dave Dixon came over and pulled her away from John, and the two began conversing in animated whispers. After a long moment, Sam came back over to where John was standing, the expression on her face one of disgust and barely-restrained anger.

“Mister Sheppard, I sincerely apologize for any insult my words or actions may have caused,” she said formally. “I assure you I meant no slight against you or your intended.”

John nodded curtly. “Thank you, Miss Carter. Your apology is accepted.”

At that moment, the portrait hole swung open, admitting Laura and Professor McGonagall.

“I need to speak with all the prefects,” McGonagall announced.

Cam touched the tip of his wand to his Head Boy badge. “Lorne, Professor McGonagall needs to see us in the common room.”

_“On my way,”_ Evan’s voice came through the badge.

While they waited for Evan to arrive, McGonagall came over to John and said in a low tone, “May I ask what Miss Carter said or did that prompted you to request a formal apology?”

“You may ask,” John replied.

“But you’re not going to answer,” McGonagall surmised.

“The matter has been settled in accordance with the old customs,” John explained. “I see no need for further action against her.”

McGonagall nodded. “Very well.”

By this time, Evan had arrived, and the six Gryffindor prefects were standing in a row facing McGonagall.

“Mister Mitchell, Miss Carter, Mister Bates, and Miss Mehra: am I to understand that earlier this afternoon, the four of you launched an unprovoked attack against your fellow students?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t exactly call it unprovoked,” Bates responded.

McGonagall fixed him with a stern glare. “Explain.”

“One of the Slytherins attacked Sheppard last Friday.”

“You are mistaken, Mister Bates,” McGonagall replied. “Despite what our esteemed _headmaster_ may have told you, Professor Caldwell was possessed by a Dark creature that forced him to attack Mister Sheppard and Miss Weir, who defended themselves against the attacks and were eventually forced to kill Professor Caldwell in order to neutralize the threat posed by the creature possessing him.”

“Listen to yourself!” Carter shouted. “Don’t you hear how ridiculous this sounds? Creatures can’t possess people!”

“This one can,” McGonagall told her.

“That’s impossible!” Carter shot back. “She’s modified all your memories to make herself look innocent!”

McGonagall’s eyes narrowed. “Who, Miss Weir?”

“Yes!” Carter replied in exasperation.

“And how, pray tell, would she do that while unconscious, Miss Carter?” McGonagall asked.

Carter wisely chose not to answer.

McGonagall now directed her attention to the two sixth-year prefects. “Mister Lorne and Miss Cadman: am I also to understand that the two of you knew that your fellow prefects intended to launch this attack and did not report it?”

“Mister Mitchell made us promise that we would not disclose what we knew to a professor unless directly asked,” Laura explained. “There was a privacy ward up at the time, and not knowing the particular ward schema in use, I felt it would be unwise to risk the possibility that the ward schema contained a cluster that would make the promise magically binding.”

McGonagall was reluctantly forced to concede the point. A dead student and a dead professor were bad enough; two other students losing their magic in connection with the same incident would have been disastrous.

“Very well,” she said. “Mister Lorne, Miss Cadman, and Mister Sheppard, I need to speak with you in private. Please proceed to my office and wait there; I will join you shortly.”

Once the three of them departed, McGonagall continued, “Mister Ford, am I to understand that you were also a participant in this attack?”

Ford nodded silently.

“I am deducting fifty points from each of the five of you who participated in the attack, and I am suspending you for the remainder of term,” McGonagall announced. “You are all confined to your dormitories, effective immediately. I will make arrangements for you to take your meals there.

“Furthermore: Miss Carter, Mister Bates, and Miss Mehra, you are stripped of your position as prefects,” McGonagall told them. With a wave of her wand, their prefect badges detached themselves from their uniforms and flew to McGonagall’s hand. “Mister Mitchell, the only reason you’re not is because only the headmaster has the authority to remove the Head Boy, and I assure you, I will be strongly recommending to him that he do so. I can, however, strip you of your quidditch captaincy.”

With another wave of McGonagall’s wand, the badge identifying Mitchell as quidditch captain went the way of his companions’ prefect badges.

“Those of you who participated in the second wave of the attack, and you know who you are, that will be twenty points from each of you and detention with Mister Filch for each of the next two nights,” McGonagall declared.

As McGonagall turned and departed, the only sound in the room was the crackling of the fireplace.

* * *

John, Evan, and Laura arrived in McGonagall’s office to find Rodney and Sarah already there.

“Well, this is a surprise,” Evan remarked. “What are you two doing here?”

“McGonagall asked us to wait for her in her office,” Sarah replied. “I presume it’s something to do with the fight Mitchell picked with Kenmore’s gang.”

Evan buried his head in his hands. “Oh, for Merlin’s sake. Kenmore’s gang?”

Sarah shrugged. “Don’t ask me what he was thinking.”

“Clearly, he wasn’t thinking,” Evan responded.

The door swung open again, and McGonagall entered and sat down behind her desk. “Miss Gardner, as a result of the incident that just occurred, I have dismissed Miss Carter, Mister Bates, and Miss Mehra from their prefect positions and have recommended to the headmaster that Mister Mitchell be dismissed from his Head Boy position. I have also suspended Mister Mitchell, so he will be unable to fulfill his duties even if the headmaster allows him to retain his position, which I have a sneaking suspicion he might given the short amount of time remaining in the year.”

“And last I heard, Miss Weir had yet to regain consciousness, which puts us shorthanded almost a quarter of our prefects,” Sarah finished.

McGonagall nodded. “I understand you appointed Mister McKay as a temporary prefect?”

“That’s correct,” Sarah replied. “I thought we might need extra wands to resolve the incident that just occurred.”

“Mister McKay, unless you have an objection, I’m going to have you remain a temporary prefect for the remainder of the school year due to our current shortage of regular prefects,” McGonagall told him.

McKay nodded. “No objection.”

“Mister Sheppard, I’d like to name you a temporary prefect as well,” McGonagall continued.

“This would just be for the rest of this week, right?” John asked.

“That’s correct,” McGonagall confirmed.

“Alright,” Sheppard agreed.

“Good,” McGonagall said, handing him one of the prefect badges she had confiscated earlier. “Miss Gardner, I’ll let you handle the patrol assignments?”

Sarah nodded. “Yes, Professor McGonagall.”

“It is my intent to wait until summer before appointing permanent replacement prefects,” McGonagall stated. “Do any of you see a reason to do otherwise?”

“The only thing I can think is that there might be a retaliation for this incident,” Sarah pointed out.

McGonagall hummed. “Perhaps I should suggest to Madam Pomfrey that those currently in the infirmary be kept under observation for a few days.”

“Probably a good idea,” Rodney agreed. “Aerosolizing a potion often increases its potency. She’ll need to make sure they don’t suffer any lingering effects from that Sleeping Draught Carter used to put them down.”

McGonagall nodded. “I’ll let her know. By the way, Mister McKay, I heard your foray into spell creation was a rousing success. Twenty points to Ravenclaw.”

McKay bowed slightly. “Thank you, Professor.”

“One last order of business, and it concerns you, Mister Sheppard,” McGonagall stated. “I also stripped Mister Mitchell of his captaincy of the Gryffindor quidditch team. I’m naming you his successor.”

She reached into the pocket of her robes, pulled out the captain’s badge she had taken from Cam, and pinned it onto John’s lapel next to the prefect badge.

“That is all,” McGonagall informed them.

The five of them stood from their chairs and exited McGonagall’s office, at which point Evan left to return to the Gryffindor common room.

Sarah drew her wand and placed the tip against her Head Girl badge. “All prefects, this is Gardner. Due to circumstances outside our control, I’m going to have to reshuffle the patrol assignments for tonight. Please muster in the Entrance Hall immediately following dinner to receive your new assignments. Thank you.”

Removing her wand from the badge, she turned to the other three and asked, “I’ll see you then?”

John, Rodney, and Laura nodded. Sarah returned the nod and then walked off in the direction of Ravenclaw Tower.

“Did Laura already give you the latest news?” Rodney asked John.

Before John could answer, Laura put in, “I had been about to do so when Professor McGonagall called us on the carpet.”

“What’s going on?” John asked.

“The governors overturned Elizabeth’s expulsion,” Rodney told him. “Teyla said they couldn’t have been in deliberations more than about five minutes.”

John looked at him in surprise. “Good grief, they heard the case already?”

“Yeah, that was my reaction,” Laura agreed. “I figure they must’ve known they would probably wind up overturning the decision, or else they wouldn’t have scheduled the hearing for as soon as they did.”

“So, Rodney,” John began, “do we still leak this to the _Prophet_?”

Rodney shook his head. “I don’t think we need to. Like Laura said, if the Board thought they were gonna uphold the expulsion, they’d have let the hearing wait until summer. That probably means Dumbledore’s already on their shit list.”

“Yeah, that’d be my thought,” John agreed. “Let the old bastard dig his own grave.”

* * *

Pomfrey sat behind her desk watching the wall clock intently. Seeing the minute hand tick over the requisite number, she stood, made her way to a door at the far end of the Hospital Wing, and began taking down the quarantine wards that protected it. Once she had finished, she went over to the Hospital Wing entrance, opened the doors, and nodded to the small gathering waiting outside.

John, Rodney, Ronon, Carson, Teyla, and Laura entered the Hospital Wing and followed Pomfrey over to the door from which she had just removed the wards.

“Because we’ve got an unusually large number of patients right now, I’m going to keep Miss Weir in the isolation room but with the wards deactivated,” Pomfrey told them.

“So we’ll be able to come in here and see her now?” John asked.

Pomfrey nodded. “Yes, you’ll be able to come in and visit her just as if she were in the main part of the Wing.”

John opened the door, and the six students entered the room. Elizabeth lay motionless on the room’s lone bed, looking for all the world as if she were merely sleeping. While the other five conjured chairs for themselves, John went over and sat down on the edge of Elizabeth’s bed, taking her hand in his as he did so.

“Hey, Lizbeth,” he greeted her. “Everything’s okay. I’m here now. You’re safe.”

Elizabeth didn’t react.

“You can wake up now, Lizbeth. I’m here,” John told her in a pleading tone.

Still Elizabeth remained motionless.


	12. Chapter 12

Breakfast the next morning saw the students seated in clumps centered around anyone who had a copy of the _Daily Prophet_.

“Well, I guess I was right,” John remarked to Laura. “We didn’t need to tip the _Prophet_ off. Someone else already did.”

“Yeah, and for the _Prophet_ , this is surprisingly accurate,” Laura commented, handing John her copy.

* * *

# MAYHEM AT HOGWARTS

## Governors to hold inquest into recent deaths of student, professor

**By Andy Smudgley**  
THE DAILY PROPHET

The Hogwarts Board of Governors will hold an emergency meeting this Thursday to investigate the school’s handling of a recent rash of incidents that have left two dead and twelve others injured.

The first incident occurred Friday, when it was discovered that Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor Steven Caldwell was possessed by a rare Dark creature known as a Goa’uld, according to official Auror reports.

The report stated that Caldwell attacked two students in his sixth-year Defense class while under the creature’s influence, wounding Slytherin student Elizabeth Weir before being killed by Gryffindor student John Sheppard. Their classmates were not present when the attack occurred.

The early stages of the Auror investigation were fraught with confusion, as Sheppard and Weir both passed out due to magical exhaustion following the attack and remained unconscious through the weekend. As a result, Auror Apprentice Jack O’Neill said, rumors spread among the student body that Caldwell had been killed while attempting to break up a duel between Sheppard and Weir.

According to a second Auror report, these rumors led to a confrontation between Gryffindor and Slytherin students Monday afternoon, during which seventh-year Gryffindor Marshall Sumner was fatally struck by a Withering Curse. Seventh-year Slytherin Michael Kenmore, who allegedly fired the curse, has been arrested in connection with the incident and will be arraigned on murder charges later today.

Ministry Prosecutor Richard Woolsey said that the Ministry does not currently intend to file charges against any of the other participants in the incident.

“If every exchange of spells in the corridors of Hogwarts ended in assault charges, the Wizengamot wouldn’t have time to hear any other cases,” he said. “The fact that this incident resulted in a death does not change that policy. The other students involved can be handled through Hogwarts’ internal disciplinary system.”

Thursday’s hearing will not be the Board of Governors’ first intervention into the situation. An emergency meeting held yesterday saw the Board overturn Headmaster Albus Dumbledore’s decision to expel Weir for her alleged role in the incident that led to Caldwell’s death.

In a unanimous decision, the Board cleared Weir of all wrongdoing in connection with the incident, calling Dumbledore’s charges against her “completely baseless” in their written report.

“The School’s decision to bring expulsion proceedings against Miss Weir while taking no action whatsoever against Mister Sheppard for essentially the same actions calls the headmaster’s neutrality into serious question,” the report continued. “The claimed justification for this double standard only creates further evidence of possible bias.”

Attempts to reach Dumbledore for comment on the Board’s decision were unsuccessful.

Board Chairman Lucius Malfoy said Thursday’s hearing will focus primarily on attempting to determine how long Caldwell had been possessed and whether anyone knew or suspected prior to Friday’s incident. The hearing will also address whether more could have been done to prevent Monday’s incident, he added.

Malfoy also said that an investigation is being launched to determine whether there have been any other incidents that could potentially support an accusation of bias against Dumbledore, although that topic will not be on the agenda for Thursday.

Also not on Thursday’s agenda will be the question of whether to terminate Dumbledore’s contract with the school, Malfoy said.

“Depending on the findings of the bias investigation and the outcome of Thursday’s emergency meeting, the topic could be raised at the next regular Board meeting, but it’s too early to say for certain,” he said.

Governor Douglas MacMillan said he is confident Dumbledore will retain his position as headmaster.

“A professor was possessed by a Dark creature that, until now, no one had even heard of since the time of the pharaohs,” he said. “You have to admit that sounds rather unlikely. It’s only natural that Dumbledore would suspect some sort of deception.”

Governor Branwen Lloyd, however, was less optimistic.

“It’s appalling that [the appeal] hearing even had to take place,” she said. “If Dumbledore had followed any sort of due process before expelling her in the first place, he would have reached the same conclusion we did: that Elizabeth Weir did absolutely nothing wrong.

“If a daughter of an Ancient House can be summarily expelled for no valid reason, I’m forced to seriously reevaluate whether Hogwarts under its current leadership is still the best place for my children to be getting their education,” Lloyd added.

* * *

“You think he’s right that Dumbledore will survive this?” Laura asked.

“Teyla did say it would take a unanimous vote to remove him,” John reminded her. “Based on that quote, the only way I see MacMillan changing his tune would be if it were to come out that Dumbledore had done something outright criminal.”

“You could make an argument that him ordering Pomfrey to quarantine Elizabeth when there was no good medical reason to do so could constitute obstruction of justice,” Laura pointed out.

John shook his head. “I don’t think it’d hold water. If she was unconscious the whole time she was under quarantine, her being under quarantine didn’t deprive the Aurors of the ability to question her since they wouldn’t have been able to question her even had she not been quarantined.”

“It could still have created undue prejudice against her,” Laura replied.

“That’d be grounds for a tort claim, not an obstruction charge,” John countered.

Laura hummed thoughtfully.

There was a brief silence before John asked, “You think Aiden will come around?”

Laura shook her head. “I don’t know. Carson told me he accused Elizabeth of having Death Eater sympathies at dinner Friday.”

“Dammit,” John said with a sigh. “That’s the same shit Carter was spouting.”

Laura nodded. “Unfortunately, I can’t exactly say I’m surprised. A lot of us Gryffindors can act a bit touched in the head where Slytherins are involved.”

“Probably doesn’t help that the wizarding world spent the first decade of our lives at war with a Dark Lord whose supporters were mostly former Slytherins,” John agreed.

“Well, as you said, it’s basically the same rubbish most of the rest of the Gryffindors were spouting,” Laura said. “Maybe when he gets home over the summer and he’s able to reevaluate the situation without the rest of the House filling his head with that tripe, he’ll realize he was wrong.”

Having finished his breakfast, John stood. “I hope so.”

Laura also stood, and the two left the Great Hall and made their way to the Hospital Wing in silence. Stepping into Elizabeth’s room, they found Rodney and Carson already there.

“Have you both seen today’s _Prophet_?” Laura asked after greetings had been exchanged.

Carson nodded. “Aye.”

“I only saw the article on what’s been happening here at Hogwarts,” Rodney said. “Is there anything else of interest?”

“RCMC added the Goa’uld to the five-X list,” Laura replied, handing him her copy. “No surprise there. That article also has all the information currently known about the Goa’uld and how to identify when someone’s been possessed by one.”

The room settled into a comfortable silence as Rodney began reading the article. Ronon and Teyla arrived about ten minutes later, and after an exchange of greetings, they too sat down and waited in silence.

For close to an hour, the silence was broken only by the rustling of parchment as Laura’s copy of the _Prophet_ was passed around between those who had yet to see it.

“You want to see this, John?” Laura asked when everyone else had finished.

John waved her off. “No, I’m fine,” he replied, never taking his eyes off Elizabeth.

At that moment, Elizabeth’s head lolled to one side, and her eyelids fluttered to a half-open position. “John?” she asked weakly.

Immediately John leaned down and pulled Elizabeth into his arms, resting his chin on her shoulder as he held her close. “Lizbeth,” he murmured.

* * *

John stared out the window of the Hogwarts Express as it steamed through the countryside toward King’s Cross. Elizabeth was snuggled into his side, her head resting on his chest, and he had one arm draped around her shoulders.

“So how long did Professor Caldwell have that… _thing_ …in his head?” Elizabeth asked.

“We’re not really sure, but the governors’ best guess is that he picked it up over the Christmas break,” John replied. “Apparently, even though he’d technically retired from his position at Gringotts, he’d still been doing some consulting work for them.”

“And they called him in to do some consulting over the hols?” Elizabeth surmised.

At this point, Rodney, sitting on the opposite side of the compartment, took up the narrative. “They requested his assistance bringing down the protections around the tomb of…” he paused briefly to look down at Friday’s _Prophet_ , “the Fifth Dynasty pharaoh Shepseskare, who according to the texts recovered from the tomb, was possessed by one of these things a few weeks into his reign.”

Elizabeth hummed. “And they think the…what are those things called again?”

“Goa’uld,” Rodney supplied.

“They think the Goa’uld that possessed this pharaoh had been alive in the tomb for thousands of years and possessed Professor Caldwell while he was there with the team excavating the tomb,” Elizabeth finished.

“That’s the most likely scenario,” John confirmed.

“How did no one notice for close to six months?” Elizabeth asked.

“When a Goa’uld takes a host, it gains all of the host’s knowledge,” Rodney explained. “Professor Caldwell’s mind would have been an open book to this thing.”

Elizabeth sighed. “I can’t imagine what that must’ve been like for him to have been a prisoner in his own body for six months.”

“I certainly can’t imagine it would’ve been pleasant,” John agreed.

“I still can’t believe Dumbledore probably won’t get sacked over this,” Rodney complained. “He basically tried to expel Elizabeth for no reason other than the fact that she’s a Slytherin!”

Next to Rodney, Teyla pressed her fingers to her temples. “We are well aware of your feelings on this matter, Rodney.”

“The man is practically untouchable,” Elizabeth said. “Between being headmaster, Chief Warlock, and Supreme Mugwump of the ICW, he has far more power than one man should be allowed to hold.”

“And yet he claims ‘not wanting power’ is the reason he never puts himself forward as a candidate for Minister,” John remarked.

Elizabeth snorted. “More like ‘not wanting to give up power.’ The reason he never puts himself forward for Minister is because he knows that if he became Minister, he’d have to step down as Chief Warlock and as Supreme Mugwump.”

“And he’s been at Hogwarts either as a professor or as headmaster for so long that practically everyone in any other prominent position in the Ministry attended Hogwarts during his tenure,” Carson pointed out from his position on Rodney’s other side.

“Which is exactly why it’ll be so hard to get rid of the old goat,” Laura, sitting on Carson’s lap, put in. “He’s got so many former students in high places who are willing to back him up.”

“I’d like to take that ridiculous beard of his and throttle him with it,” Rodney muttered.

Elizabeth glared at him sternly. “Rodney.”

“What?” Rodney asked defensively. “I wasn’t saying I actually intended to do it!”

“He’s just venting his frustrations,” John supplied.

Elizabeth sighed indulgently.

The rest of the ride was uneventful, and the train soon arrived at Platform 9¾.

“Well, at least we only have to put up with Dumbledore for one more year after this,” Elizabeth said as they all began gathering their things.

“Thank Merlin for small favors,” Rodney muttered.

The group said their goodbyes to each other and departed one by one, eventually leaving John and Elizabeth as the last two left in the compartment.

“Have a good summer, John,” Elizabeth told him.

“Yeah, you too, Lizbeth,” John replied.

They stood staring at each other for the briefest of moments before John closed the distance between them and drew her into an embrace. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“So am I,” she whispered back.

John stepped back far enough to look at her, his hands still resting on her shoulders. “Maybe we can try to get together a few times over the summer?”

Elizabeth smiled. “I’d like that.”

They shared a final kiss before John shrank his trunk, slipped it into his pocket, and stepped out of the compartment onto the platform.


End file.
